


Social Anxiety

by SpunYarn



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, First Time, Heavy Petting, Implied Sexual Content, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:55:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16141517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpunYarn/pseuds/SpunYarn
Summary: Pyrrha Nikos has always been the top of her class, a champion beyond compare. Struggling with the loneliness of her position, and eager to have people see the real her, she turns to the new social media app, HNTR to bare her soul to her peers.





	1. See Me

**Author's Note:**

> This'll be my first time writing things in order and posting them a little bit at a time. Please bear with me as I struggle through this exciting and terrifying adventure.

Hard rubber wrapped around cold steel struck into the smooth stone surface of the floor. A cacophony of whirring servos, and clicking gears emanated from inside the bulky training drone thad had just made its attack. The small square ‘head’, a box filled with sensors and cameras, turned slowly, following the movements of its prey as it readied itself for another attack. A garbled and jittery electronic noise that some programmer may have thought sounded like an animal roared from a speaker hidden somewhere in the boxy machine.

Weaving around the machine, the young huntress transformed into a scarlet and bronze blur. Sparks flashed off of the hard mechanical body of the drone as a red spear-tip scraped over armour plates. The cold screech of metal against metal rang out through the air as the cruel red blade tried to tear through thick plates of steel. The pointed edge of the red spear shaved off a trail of white paint before bouncing off of a joint, and returning back into the blur of movement.

The bulky white training drone let out a mechanical howl before making a sweeping strike with one of its long arms. A low gong filled the air and echoed off of the walls as the rubber-clad fist of the drone struck against a solid round shield. The red-haired huntress let out a soft groan as her muscles strained against the force of the robot’s attack. The soles of her boots tried to dig into the unforgiving stone floor as she pushed back against the attack with all her strength.

With a red flash of her spear, Pyrrha Nikos nudged the heavy robotic arm upwards. She dipped her body down, listening as the attack scraped across the surface of her shield. Once she was safely on the other side of the attack, she spun her body, adding force to the thrust of her spear. The red tip kissed across the ‘neck’ of the training drone in a glancing blow.

Against a human, or even a grim, such an attack would have afforded the huntress an opportunity to catch her breath. While such a glancing blow wouldn’t have been fatal, it would have been enough to make her opponent step back to take stock of their injuries. The training drone lacked such organic concerns. The training drones had been programmed to teach the students to press every advantage and make every attack count. The drone did not hesitate before dragging it’s second arm sweeping across the ground in a second attack.

Pyrrha’s green eyes flashed over, catching a glimpse of the oncoming attack around the edge of her shield. She kicked her foot hard against the ground, pushing herself into an acrobatic flip over the rumbling mechanical appendage. She curled over the rubber and steel as it dragged over the ground, the trailing edge of her red sash fluttering behind to mark the arc that her body had taken through the air.

The spear let out a series of short clicks as it twisted and pulled into a more compact form. When Pyrrha’s boots made hard contact with the ground, her spear had changed into a sword, better suited for close combat. The muscles in her legs screamed at her as she pushed off of the hard landing with all of her strength, shooting forward to close the distance between her and the machine. She swung her shield at the ‘face’ of the training droid, turning it away and creating a blindspot for the following slash of her sword.

Red lights flashed on behind the tinted glass that hid the drone’s sensors, and it gave out a low tone to signal victory for the huntress. Pyrrha’s chest heaved with laboured breathing, sweat stinging her eyes as she stared down the defeated robot. The high of the adrenaline from battle gave way to a low ache as her muscles complained about the amount of work she had been asking them to do lately.

This was not the first time that she had sparred with the outdated hulk that Beacon had somehow acquired from Atlas. She had been putting most of her free time towards training for the last few months. It helped her keep from losing her edge, and was serving as an excellent outlet to the swirling storm of emotions that had taken place in her heart. While Ren and Nora figured out their budding relationship, Pyrrha had been pushing back against the robot’s attacks. While Jaune worked on socializing with team RWBY, the redheaded warrior carved her frustrations into the white paint of the droid.

A handful of times Pyrrha had tried to engage her fellow teammates in social activities. When she wasn’t feeling awkward about Nora’s public displays of affection, she felt like everything was a team building activity. She wanted to goof off with her team for a bit. She wanted to find someone to snuggle up with like Nora had found Ren. She wanted people to forget that she was a combat genius and remember that she was also a young woman. Her talents had thrust her to the top of the mountain, and while the view might be nice, she was finding it terribly lonely.

Pushing her fingers through her damp bangs, Pyrrha walked over to a wooden bench against the wall of the room. She slung her sword and shield over her back before reaching down to a small towel and a canteen of water. After a few long gulps of the cool and refreshing water, Pyrrha draped the towel over her shoulders and let out a long sigh. She looked down at the time listed on her open scroll and decided it would probably be best to finish up with training for the night.

The redheaded huntress left the drone behind, entering the empty locker-room. She opened her locker and stared into the small space for a long moment, reflecting on how she had now done this every night this week. Everything had fallen into a familiar and practiced rhythm. Her fingers worked on loosening her battle corset while a careful application of her semblance loosened buckles and snaps, to speed up her changing process. She deposited her sweat-soiled clothes in the locker, and marched off towards the showers.

Hot water rained down on her as she leaned forward and flattened her palms against the ceramic tiles of the shower-stall. The drops of hot water pounded against her skin, working to sooth her aching muscles and pulling away the layer of sweat and grime from her training. She stared down at the water as it spiralled around the drain, trying not to let her mind make the comparison to how she had been spending her evenings. She had fallen into a comfortable cycle of training to avoid thinking about how alone she felt. She was drowning herself in an inescapable routine.

It shouldn’t have been this hard. She was a talented huntress. She always tried to have a warm and welcoming personality. So maybe she didn’t have the most appealing body of the Beacon huntresses. It was hard to measure up when you had an opponent like Yang. Maybe she wasn’t as fun-loving as Nora or Ruby. Maybe some people had a preference for cold and detached women with famous names and powerful families.

She bit her bottom lip, hating herself for thinking like that. With her combat talent she’d come out on top in a fight, but she always felt like she was losing against the other girls. She always had to look strong and put together. It wasn’t easy being a strong pillar. The cost she had paid to be the best huntress had been more than just blood, sweat, and time. No one could see her as anything other than a genius fighter, and the loneliness was eating away at her from inside, like a poison in her soul.

Pyrrha sobbed as she sank to her knees, knowing that no one would see her in this moment of weakness. Her bitter tears disappeared in the spray of water from the shower. For just this moment she would allow herself to be weak. Here in this private moment, she’d let herself be the weak and lonely girl who longed to lean on someone else. She’d cry out her vulnerabilities, and let this weaker version of herself spiral down the drain with the sweat of her training.

The hard spray slowly dropped down to a trickle, as the system to keep the showers from running when no one was there kicked in. The redheaded huntress took in a long breath to calm her frayed nerves as she sat in the puddle on the floor. Her skin grew goosebumps as the warmth of the steam made its escape, leaving her a victim of the cool air that took its place. The moment where she had allowed herself to be weak, and normal had passed, and now it was time to bury that weakness.

As she pushed herself back onto her feet, she wrung out her wet hair, pulling it back into a damp ponytail. Her eyes stared blankly at the wall of the shower as she grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself. She forced herself to smile, trying to forget about her bitter loneliness. She pushed down on the hollow feeling in her heart, trying not to think about the jealousy she felt for her teammates full social lives. She told herself that if she kept pretending that it didn’t bother her eventually it wouldn’t anymore.

Standing in front of her locker, staring at her Beacon uniform, Pyrrha wondered if Nora would be open to some sort of ‘girl talk’ tonight. The twisting sea of emotions that had been allowed to take root deep in her heart was getting too heavy to bear. The happy mask that she hid behind was starting to show cracks. It may not have been the kind of personal contact that Pyrrha craved, but the salve for that particular ache seemed beyond Pyrrha’s grasp.

The redheaded huntress donned her uniform and took a long look at herself in the small mirror mounted on the door of her locker. She slapped her hands against her cheeks, brushing away the tired haze with the sharp pain, and filling her cheeks with colour. She gave her reflection a curt nod, and curled her lips into a soft smile. Satisfied that she looked healthy in body and mind, the huntress packed her remaining belonging into a small pack, and closed the locker door behind her.

oOoOo

Nora lay sprawled out on a couch, idly flipping trough something on her scroll. She wore a long t-shirt, the word ‘boop’ emblazoned across her chest in thick white letters. The shirt was a size or two too large for the lightning-imbued huntress, and performed its service as her sleepwear admirably. The hem of the stretchy material fell down to her thighs, protecting her dignity by hiding everything that would need to be hidden. Around her neck she wore a pair of bulky headphones that were giving off a poppy beat as she enjoyed her night in.

When she heard the door open, Nora brought her hand up in a slight wave, “Hello teammate.” She didn’t look to see which teammate it was that had entered their dorm.

Pyrrha sighed softly as she looked at the girl on the couch, “I wish I could wander around in just an oversized t-shirt like you, Nora.”

Nora blinked and turned her blue eyes over to her teammate, “You should. It’s really comfortable.”

Pyrrha felt the familiar anxiety that gripped at her heart every time she thought about one of Nora’s more daring suggestions. The idea of being clad in only a t-shirt somewhere that Jaune might see her was at once exciting and mortifying. The sensation melted away into a throbbing pain when she remembered Jaune seemed to only see her as a teammate. Really, she might as well wear whatever made her comfortable. One male teammate was already in a relationship, and the other seemed to think of her as more of a sister than a possible romantic partner.

The hammer-user pulled her feet back towards her body, freeing part of the couch for her sullen teammate, “How was training?” Her eyes had flipped back to her scroll as she tried to start idle chit-chat.

Pyrrha crossed the room and flopped into the offered seat, staring blankly into the room. When she thought about her training session it all seemed like a blur. The only thing that came to focus in her memories was crying in the shower, and that empty bitter feeling that had felt like a knife in her heart. She was speaking before she realized that words were coming from her mouth, “It was lonely. It’s always lonely. I’m not even sure why I’m doing it anymore.”

Nora stopped dead in what she was doing, “Pyrrha, are you okay?”

Pyrrha didn’t turn, continuing to stare dead forward into some empty space, “I don’t think I am.”

Nora slid her scroll closed and shifted up into a sitting position, “Do you want to talk about it?”

The redheaded champion nodded softly, her bottom lip trembling. She wanted to talk, to let out just enough that she’d feel like herself again. It would be so nice to lighten the weight on her heart just a little bit. She was afraid. If she started, she wasn’t sure that she’d be able to stop, and what would Nora think about her then? Would Nora still be able to see the strong, charismatic huntress, once she knew about this deep and horrible weakness that lingered in her heart? If she confessed to being jealous of Nora and Ren’s relationship, would Nora still be open to calling her a friend?

Pyrrha’s shoulders shuddered as she let out a soft whisper, “I want someone to look at me the way Ren looks at you.” She looked over to Nora, fresh tears stinging her eyes, “Does being jealous of you make me a bad person?”

Nora pulled the crying huntress forward into a soft hug, “Oh, Sweety…” She patted the back of Pyrrha’s head, her fingers petting at her scalp through her hair, “You couldn’t be a bad person if you tried.”

Pyrrha’s arms came up, her fingers slipping around her arms as she squeezed herself in her own tight hug. Nora’s motherly touch made Pyrrha feel safe. Her teammate hadn’t turned on her. Nora hadn’t called her a monster because of the jealousy that clouded her heart. Instead, she had opened her arms and held her close, protecting her from the cruel and heartless world. The strong arms of Nora Valkyrie, that could punch down any foe transformed into a soft comfort blanket.

“It’s not fair…” Pyrrha whispered, her shoulders shaking slightly. All anyone ever saw when they looked at her was some unconquerable summit. They didn’t see the weak girl who was hungry for a human connection. They saw a powerful warrior, who could dismantle their defence and leave them broken and crying for their mothers. People like Nora and Yang never seemed to have that problem with men, and they were both monstrously strong.

Nora cooed softly as she continued to run her fingertips through Pyrrha’s hair, “I know, Sweety.” She wanted to help in a more complete way, but didn’t know what to do. In her case, it had been easy. She had known Ren since she was a child. Their relationship moving to the next step was a product of time. In the end they were a family that wasn’t actually family. The transition from childhood friends to a romanticrelationship had been an easy one.

“Why don’t people see me as a girl?” Pyrrha shuddered softly in her friend’s arms, “Is there something wrong with me?”

The hammer-wielding berserker knew all to well that Pyrrha was thinking of one person in particular. The feelings that the redheaded spartan harboured for a particular blonde knight were as clear as day. Their goofball teammate was too busy chasing after a white skirt to notice the treasure that was being thrown into his lap. The one time that Nora had tried to say something to him, he had been too dumb to pick up on it, and Pyrrha had stopped her before she could get the message through.

Apparently Pyrrha hadn’t wanted to risk ruining the team dynamic if Jaune didn’t return her feelings. It was natural to be worried about getting hurt when these kinds of feelings were involved, so Nora hadn’t pushed. It had been easy to agree when the redhead was blushing and fidgeting like a helpless puppy. Pyrrha wanted Jaune to make his own decisions, and didn’t want the doubt that he had said ‘yes’ out of some sense of justice, or duty to the team. It made sense at the time. It was all of the moments since then, when Nora had seen the pain in Pyrrha’s eyes, that it had been hard not to say something.

“There isn’t anything wrong with you, Honey.” The berserker sighed softly, as she continued to pet her fingers through Pyrrha’s hair, “Boys are just stupid sometimes.”

Pyrrha felt the hot trails of her tears running down her cheeks, her body still letting out little shakes as she sat on the couch, cradled in her friend’s arms. She felt that familiar weakness from the shower as it soaked through her body. Even as physically strong as she was, sometimes it felt like she was made of glass, ready to crack at any moment. Having Nora there to keep her safe made a huge difference, but deep in her heart, she still wished that she was being held by someone else. She still wished that she could bury her face into the shoulder of someone who cared for her in a different way.

The spartan wondered if maybe she had narrowed her focus too far. Maybe if she expanded her friend circle she could find someone that she felt the tingle in her heart for who would actually return those feelings. Maybe if she started screaming out to the world that she had feelings instead of bottling it up like this, people would start to take notice. If she screamed out that she was lonely so that everyone could hear, someone would take notice, right? Maybe if she screamed it out loud enough, even the person that she wanted to notice would stop and see her for who she was.

A slow calm had made its way through the hurt spartan. She stared forward for a long moment before whispering in a voice that cracked a little from her earlier sobs, “What do you do when you’re feeling sad?”

Nora paused for a moment before shrugging slightly, “I mean, sometimes I hit things really hard, but that doesn’t seem to be working out so well for you.” Her ice-blue eyes looked out to the room before settling on her scroll, “I guess sometimes I look at pictures of cats on HNTR.”

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes slightly as she struggled to make sense of this new use of a word that she was familiar with, “What about hunters?”

Nora patted Pyrrha’s head slightly, “The scroll-app, Sweety.” She looked down into Pyrrha’s eyes and saw only a wash of confusion, “Wait…Do you seriously not know what I’m talking about?”

Pyrrha bit her bottom lip, giving a weak nod. She had heard that you could expand the range of functions of your scroll with extra applications, but had never seen the point. Most of what she had seen had been silly games, or gimmicky filters that could be applied to photos. It had all seemed like a bit of a waste of time, and she preferred to keep her focus straight ahead.

Nora groaned softly as she tried to think of how to best explain the concept of social media, “Okay…So it is like a public bulletin board. You can go and put things on it and other people can see it.” She shrugged softly, “You use it to set up meet-ups or meet new people. You could share a video of you making pancakes or in my case, eating them. It’s like broadcasting your message or whatever.”

The spartan’s mind grabbed onto the idea, seeing the potential to solver her problems. It was a tower that she could shout her loneliness from, letting anyone who might care take notice. It was a tool that she could use to make new friendships and deepen the ones that she already had. Something so simple had the potential of opening her world, letting her shed the armour of a champion and bear herself as a girl to anyone who would look. People who were too scared to talk to her might notice. People who were too afraid to notice her might find the courage to take a look. She could finally be seen by the people she wanted to see her.

Pyrrha caught herself looking longingly at the door that stood between her and Jaune, “Everyone can see what you put up there.”

Nora followed Pyrrha’s eyes and gave her a warm smile as she picked up the unsaid question, “Gimme your scroll so I can sign you up.”


	2. Know Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha finds a new spring in her step as she takes her first step into the connected world of HNTR.

Pyrrha’s green eyes flashed over the surface of her scroll, trying desperately to take in everything that was going on before her eyes. It was like the world had been opened up in front of her. Her fingers traced over the smooth surface of the transparent tablet, dragging streams of text, and small pictures across the screen. Everyone was talking, and joking, and sharing their favourite moments. It was like some giant party where everyone was friends.

“There’s so much…” She continued to scan over everything she saw, trying to absorb everything.

Nora chuckled softly, giving Pyrrha a had pat on the back, “Sometimes a bit too much. Careful how deep you dig.”

Pyrrha turned her attention to her friend who had opened this door for her, “What do I do first?”

The berserker smiled, at the excitement that was coming off of Pyrrha in waves. She was like a kitten who had just been thrown into a pile of balls of yarn, eager to play, but distracted by everything around her. It was a pure innocence, that Nora knew wouldn’t last once she started interacting with the others who used this service. At least the user base was limited to beacon students, so it wasn’t like she was going to run into anyone strange.

Nora pointed to the top of her scroll, “So you’ll want to change your avatar. No one wants to talk to an egg.”

“Right.” Pyrrha stared blankly at her scroll before looking back to Nora, “How do I do that?”

The berserker let out a pained groan before taking the other girl’s scroll. She pressed on the monochrome image of anonymity. With a few taps and swipes she had swapped it out for an image of Pyrrha’s red sword and shield logo, disappointed at the apparent lack of photos on Pyrrha’s scroll. She handed the device back to the spartan who looked up at the swapped image with a beaming smile.

“You’ll probably want to eventually change that to a picture, but this will do for now.” Nora dropped herself into a desk-chair, causing it to spin slowly while she dropped her head over its back.

Pyrrha caressed the side of her scroll lovingly, staring at the mark that represented her, sitting next to her new pseudonym, ‘Spartan’. It was the first step towards becoming an open person. For her it was a giant leap, and it should have been terrifying, but instead, all she felt was excitement at the new world of possibilities. She had an open line of communication to everyone. She could finally join in on the party, share in the laughs, talk like a normal girl. She could say anything she wanted.

A shiver of anxiety shot down her spine, “What do I say?”

“What do you _want_ to say?” Nora twisted her body, crawling up onto the chair so that she was sitting in it backwards. Her fingers curled over the back of the chair on either side of her chin that hun loosely over it. Her eyes followed Pyrrha from one side to the other as the chair slowly turned round and round.

Pyrrha let her body flop back into her bed, holding her scroll up over her face, “I don’t know. I guess that I’m looking for the benefits of friends?”

“Maybe just that you’re looking for friends.” Nora’s ice-blue eyes stayed focused on the girl who was a genius as a huntress, but still socially unaware enough that she might use the words ‘friends with benefits’ without recognizing the mistake, “Maybe even just start with saying ‘hi’ and telling everyone who you are.”

Pyrrha nodded and tapped away at the transparent screen, crafting her first message to this new community. Her smile was so bright that it could almost light up the room. She was interacting with people. Real people. She’d be able to show everyone the real her. Everyone would see that she wasn’t just a champion fighter, but a real person. She’d finally be able to express the thoughts that she had never been able to give voice to. If she got the chance she might even be able to tell certain people how she really felt about them.

Her green eyes suddenly went wide as the screen of her scroll flashed with the message that she had ‘received a friend request’. She panicked, unsure of what to do, her heart racing in her chest. What did this even mean? She hadn’t even finished making her post yet. Had someone always wanted to be her friend and jumped at the chance the moment she had signed up? Was there someone who was too shy to speak to her in real life, who was using this opportunity to make their move?

Nora looked up from her own scroll, “Hit the accept button so that I can be your first HNTR friend.” Nora smiled and quickly closed her own scroll before hopping out of the chair and heading over her dresser.

Pyrrha smiled warmly before pressing the ‘accept’ button, “Thank you, Nora.”

“You can thank me by taking me to the cafeteria for dinner.” Nora pulled a pair of pink shorts up her legs to make herself decent. In all honesty, they were short enough that they disappeared from view under the length of the oversized shirt. While she may have technically been more decent than she had been a moment ago, at a cursory glance, you wouldn’t know it.

Pyrrha, still in her Beacon uniform, hurried through making her introductory post before snapping her scroll closed and tossing it onto the bed. She pushed herself up onto her feet, starting towards the door. She had gotten used to just accepting the requests of the lightning-maiden when they involved food. Still as she reached for the door-knob her fingers twitched slightly.

“Why are we going to get dinner together?” The sweet deserts that Nora made Pyrrha eat as ‘dinner’ had usually only been a thing when she needed to be cheered up. Right now she was the happiest she had been in weeks.

Nora shook her head and chuckled, “We’re celebrating. Obviously.”

oOoOo

A solid rubber fist bounced off of the edge of a brass shield, causing it to ring out into the empty training room. Pyrrha let out a light grunt as she struggled to keep her stance against the power of the training-bot’s attack against the edge of her shield. Her boots scraped over the stone surface of the ground as she pushed back against the force of the attack, putting her might into standing her ground against the heavy attack.

It had been a few days since Pyrrha had been introduced to the magical world of HNTR, and all of the connections it offered. While Nora had suggested that she could probably find a sparring partner other than her blonde teammate, Pyrrha had kept to her routine of sparring with the Atlas drone. She didn’t want to risk alienating her new friends by showing off her strength. Deep down part of her also enjoyed the connection that she only shared with Jaune, as she taught him moves to defend himself.

While Pyrrha facing down the atlas training dummy in the evening was not an unfamiliar picture for the training grounds, the atmosphere this time was different. Instead of struggling desperately against her opponent and the demons that had made a home of her heart, Pyrrha struck out against the drone with a smile gracing her full pink lips. She was filled with a boundless energy that was more than just the thrill of combat, or a thirst for victory. She finally felt like she was really winning at this game called life, like everything was falling into its proper place.

The leading edge of her crimson spear danced over the edge of the robot’s extended arm whistling as it traveled its path towards the box full of sensors that sat at its top. The attack on her shield let up as the drone moved back to defend itself. Pyrrha spun in a beautiful crimson blur, closing the distance to land a series of quick strikes over the heavily armoured chest of the mechanical hulk. A flash of sparks danced through the air every time the razor-sharp edge scraped over the thick metal plates.

The servos inside of the large robot whined under the strain of being forced to retreat so quickly. Pyrrha slapped against the drone’s leg with her shield before leaping into the air for another strike with her long spear. The long arm of the drone had struggled to move up, but had arrived too late to stop the huntress and her final attack. The sensor box lit up bright red, and the drone let out the familiar tone to signal its defeat, as Pyrrha landed her attack against the side of it’s neck.

Her breath burned in her lungs as she landed on the ground, her chest heaving under the force of her ragged gasps. The salty smell of her sweat somehow seemed sweater than usual. The ache of her body didn’t feel as heavy as it normally would have. The victory that she had become used to feeling as empty, somehow felt like it had some kind of meaning today. Everything felt brand new, like she had shed the worries of yesterday, and the future was nothing but bright happiness.

The spartan slowly turned, making her way back to the wooden bench where she had left her canteen, her towel, and her scroll. Like she had so many times before, she draped the towel over her shoulders, and took long gulps of the cool water from her canteen. After wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm, she reached down to pick up her scroll, her eyes scanning over the screen to absorb all of the new information that was there.

Nora had told her to stay within a small group of the communities listed on HNTR, warning her that things weren’t always so rosy if you ventured off of the safe paths. Pyrrha hadn’t understood what that meant, but had trusted her friend, and avoided navigating to areas that had not been flagged as ‘okay’ by the berserker. So far, she had been able to enjoy pictures of cats, and share in some wholesome conversations about the things that had been happening in class. It wasn’t quite the party atmosphere that Pyrrha had initially expected, but she hadn’t really had any of these negative experiences that Nora had alluded to.

The green-eyed girl closed her scroll with a smile, rubbing her face with the end of the towel to clear away what was left of her sweat. This whole experience with HNTR hadn’t been exactly what she had been craving, but it had certainly been a step in the right direction. While she still felt a little too awkward and shy to really share the ‘real Pyrrha’ like she had planned, she felt like she was constantly surrounded by friends.

That wasn’t to say that she had used the system to assign a lot of people the role of ‘friend’. She had accepted Ren’s friend request when Nora had told her it was coming, and she had accepted the invitation from a few of the nicer people she had run into. She hadn’t built up the courage to tell Jaune that she had started using the service yet. She felt like telling him was almost a cry for attention, and every time she thought about sharing her inner feelings with him, even through text, it made her vision go hazy.

It seemed impossible that someone who didn’t back down when staring down the jaws of a grim could be so afraid of revealing her own feelings. She knew it didn’t make sense. Jaune was a sweet and kind guy, exactly the kind of person that she was interacting with in HNTR. He would support her in every way that he could. Perhaps that was why she struggled so hard with the idea of telling him how she felt.

In her experience, Jaune was the kind of guy who would always do things for others, even at the expense of himself. If she told him how she felt, he’d probably give up on his pursuit of Weiss, which was kind of what Pyrrha really wanted. Was it what Jaune wanted to do though? Would she be able to forgive herself if Jaune gave up on the girl of his dreams to tie himself to her? Would he resent her for taking him away from what he really wanted?

The spartan shook her head, clearing her mind of such dangerous what-if questions. She’d already decided to support Jaune in his pursuit of Weiss, even if it left her twisted up inside. She’d give him whatever romantic advice he asked for, and help him become strong and reliable as a huntsman and a man. She’d give him wings to to chase after his dreams, even if they didn’t include her. Even her jealous mind told her that it was wrong, it wasn’t her place to stop him from chasing after the icy heiress.

Pyrrha stared into her open locker, thinking about how hard it had often been to force a smile and push Jaune forward. Maybe there was a way to make things easier on herself, and keep her on her chosen track. There were so many nice and kind people on HNTR. Maybe she could use it to meet up with someone who was nice like Jaune, but would look at _her_ instead of getting swept up in chasing after someone unattainable.

The redhead slapped her cheeks, to clear away those thoughts. She wouldn’t even know how to start down that path. Even if she had joined the app with big ideas of sharing her inner self, it had proved a little more difficult in practice. She was still shy, her emotions raw from years of neglect. If she opened her heart to someone and they still didn’t like what they saw, she wasn’t sure what she would do. The same fears that had kept her from revealing her feelings to Jaune had kept her from stepping too far out of her bubble on HNTR.

As she headed towards the shower, she accepted that she would eventually get there. It was just going to take a little bit more time. Everything that was worth anything took time and dedication, she had trained long enough to know that was true. Maybe it wouldn’t be today, or tomorrow, but one day she would find the courage to put herself out there. One day she would take that step and be rewarded with the sweet embrace that she still longed for.

oOoOo

The surface of the scroll moved in a dancing array of colours and light, a moving image of Nora hungrily attacking a stack of pancakes playing before Pyrrha’s watching eyes. The young huntress giggled at the exasperated expression plastered on the face of Ren as he made more pancakes in the background of the video. It seemed that Nora had been true to her word, and you could post videos of people making pancakes, or even eating them for everyone on HNTR to see.

It felt good to unwind after her latest training session, spending some time engaging with clever jokes, and the mindless silliness of Nora’s videos. Pyrrha couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt as light as she did now, sitting in a room with Nora and having fun with all of these people. It was a connected feeling, letting her know that she wasn’t as alone as he had once thought she was.

She dragged her fingertip over the screen of the scroll, dragging the pancake video up to see a long trail of comments that had been attached to the video. Someone was requesting the recipe, someone else mentioned that the pancakes looked delicious. Pyrrha blushed and decided to scroll past a back and forth between Nora and Ren that had been left in the comments and seemed a bit too suggestive for a video about pancakes. Suddenly her scrolling stopped as she found a comment that didn’t match up with the relatively positive tone of the rest of them.

Someone had spoken up, dropping what appeared to be a bit of an insult. The comment had suggested that Nora seemed to be losing her figure, and maybe it had been the result of too many pancakes. Pyrrha’s lips formed a thin frown as she read and re-read the comment. It didn’t make any sense. Nora looked the same way she had always looked. If anyone had said something like that to her face, she would have hit them so hard that they had brain damage. Why would someone try to be negative in her wonderful positive world?

“Nora?” Pyrrha bit her bottom lip, wondering for a moment if she should really bring her friend’s attention to such horrible negativity.

Nora perked up from her spot at the end of the couch, “Yeah?”

“I was reading the comments on that video you posted…” Pyrrha started, before returning to chewing on her bottom lip.

“Rookie mistake.” Ren’s voice came into the room from the kitchen, “The negative ones always stick a bit harder than the positive ones.”

Pyrrha looked into the kitchen for a moment, “Why would someone go out of their way to be mean like that?”

Nora sighed softly and looked back down to her own scroll, “That’s just trolls. They act out because they want the attention.” Her thumb dragged the items on her scroll around, “They lash out because it makes them forget how alone and powerless they feel. Don’t engage them if you can help it.”

The spartan frowned as she looked down at her scroll again. It felt like she had just found a weed in her otherwise perfect garden. It made her wonder what sorts of things her friend had been defending her from by keeping her walled up in these ‘safe’ sections. Was the rest of HNTR more like this? Could there be even worse things that her friends were protecting her from?

“Are there a lot of these ‘trolls’ out there?” Pyrrha tried to stare down the offending comment like it was an opponent that she could turn away.

“Naw.” Nora flipped through another page on her scroll, “I mean, they make a lot of noise, but everyone on there is from Beacon. You don’t want to yell too loud at someone you might actually run into.”

The redhead gave a short nod before sliding her scroll closed. So there may have been a few bad apples in hew new bushel of ‘friends’, but if there were only a few, she didn’t have to worry. A sigh of relief slipped past her lips and she let her head fall back against the couch. It had been a long few days filled with a lot of learning that she hadn’t been used to. She wondered if maybe she should have been spending more time talking to people face to face.

It occurred to her that lately she hadn’t been seeing a lot of Jaune outside of their weekly training sessions. When she had asked about it, Ren had said it had something to do with videos of very quiet noises. She wasn’t sure what exactly that had meant, but decided not to ask any follow-up questions. Most of her real-life conversations had been with either Nora or Ren. Maybe it was time to take a little break from HNTR and really socialize with people again.

“Hey!” The call came from inside the kitchen, “Does someone want to get Jaune out of his room for dinner?”

Pyrrha let out a satisfied sigh as she pushed herself to her feet, “Leave it to me.”


	3. Want Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang shares her experience with HNTR, and then pulls a prank on the unsuspecting Pyrrha. What harm could come from a little picture?

A cool breeze moved through the campus of Beacon Academy, causing the water of the fountains to twist int a series of shallow ripples. Pyrrha had decided to take a break from the noise of the cafeteria, opting to spend some time in the courtyard of the academy. It was rather pleasant outside, with the fresh air blowing through her hair, and the warm sun beating down on her skin.

After her lunch she was supposed to report to the gym for some combat training. As a result she had changed from her uniform into her battle-garb. She smiled at the feeling of her hair tickling over her bare shoulders as it was moved around by the cool breeze. While she was dressed like a warrior, she felt serene and relaxed, like battle was the furthest thing from her mind.

“Yo!”

The sharp greeting startled Pyrrha out of her momentary daydream. Her bright-green eyes turned to look at the blonde huntress who had flopped down onto the bench next to her, “Hello, Yang.”

“We haven’t seen you around as much lately.” The busty boxer spoke up before draping an arm over Pyrrha’s shoulders, “You been avoiding us or something?”

Pyrrha closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, “No, nothing like that.” The spartan smiled as she thought about how she had been spending her fee time, “I’ve just been spending a lot of time on a social app on my scroll.”

Yang’s face turned into a mask of shock, “What got you onto HNTR?”

Pyrrha shrugged before looking back to her blonde friend, “I was feeling lonely I guess.”

The blonde boxer gave a knowing smile and leaned back a bit in her bench, “Yeah. HNTR can definitely offer a cure for _loneliness_.” The way she said it made it sound like there was far more that was left unsaid.

The spartan felt like she was no longer talking about the same thing. She furrowed her brow as she looked over to Yang, “I have made a lot of new friends.”

“I bet you have.” Yang gave Pyrrha a smile that definitely spoke of something lewd.

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing.” Pyrrha shifted a little bit nervously on the bench, trying not to think too hard about what Yang was asking her about.

The blonde blinked quickly, “We’re talking about guys, right?”

The spartan stared at the brawler from team RWBY, trying desperately to understand what she was talking about, while also trying to keep her mind away from anything impure. Was Yang trying to tell her that she was using HNTR to hook up with random strangers? Pyrrha had to admit that the idea of finding a meaningful relationship through the service had crossed her mind. That didn’t seem to be exactly what Yang was suggesting though. The way she talked made it seem like she was using it to supply her with a series of one-night stands.

“You’re using hunter to-” Pyrrha felt a hot blush burn in her cheeks, “t-t-to find a p-partner to spend your night with?” She couldn’t be saying that, right?

Yang’s face beamed with a lecherous pride, “Sometimes more than one.”

It was more than a little terrifying when Pyrrha thought about it. She hadn’t known that HNTR could be used for that sort of interaction. Part of her wanted to throw away her scroll and never think about any of this again. A different part of her felt a small thrill of excitement at the possibility. It couldn’t really be possible though, could it? Maybe it could be for someone with as few personal boundaries as Yang, but, how would she even go about attracting that kind of person? The morbid curiosity about how such a thing could happen itched at the back of her brain.

“H-h-how?” Pyrrha continued to shift slightly beside the brawler.

“Well, Pyrrha-“ Yang started, before looking up to the sky, “There’s more than one place that a guy can put his-“

Pyrrha turned a shade of red more intense than her hair and hurriedly shook her head and clapped her hands against Yang’s shoulders, “Nonononono!” Her breath was a little shaky as she looked at her fellow huntress, “I meant…how do you find people like that?”

Yang gave a wide smile and pulled her scroll out from within her cleavage, flipping it open and loading up the HNTR app, “Well, for _me_ a lot of it probably has to do with my avatar. When Yang turned the small device to Pyrrha, the spartan’s eyes went wide.

Beside the screen name ‘MellowYellow’ was the small image that served as Yang’s avatar. Yang had taken a picture of herself, cropping in to display her most prominent assets. In the picture she had pulled down on the collar of her jacket so that her halter-top clad chest was free from the its usual leather confines. The black flame brand that identified Yang was on clear display, but Pyrrha suspected that was not the main intent. The top of the image ended just under her chin, exposing a glimpse of her vulnerable throat. The autumn orange neckerchief seemed to form a devilish arrow, pointing straight down into the chasm of Yang’s cleavage.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words.” Yang smirked as she slid her scroll closed and slipped it back to where she had retrieved it from, “I never have to do too much talking after a guy spots that, so I guess it’s true.”

Pyrrha’s whole body felt hot. Yang was on a whole different level. The spartan had thought that maybe she’d be able to be as socially open as a normal person, but if Yang was normal, she knew she’d never be able to conquer that level of shyness. She also knew that if she was fishing in the same pond as someone who was as open about their wants and desires as that, she didn’t stand a chance. Maybe talking to normal people in the real world was the way to go after all.

“Here, let me take a look at your avatar. Maybe I can help set you up.”

Pyrrha was too breathless and shocked to realize that Yang was even still speaking to her. Her mind had gone wild with the frightening possibilities that she had never thought to use HNTR for. Before she had a chance to protest, the brawler had swiped her scroll and slid it open. She was about to mage a move to wrench it out of the blonde’s hands when the brawler loaded up the HNTR app.

“You’re just using your logo for your avatar?” Yang looked down at Pyrrha’s scroll with clear disappointment painted over her features, “With your pretty face, we definitely need a picture.”

Pyrrha waved her hands quickly, “Yang, stop!” Her eyes were filled with a mix of uncertainty and fear, “It’s fine as is! Really!”

Yang pouted, “Aw c’mon. It’ll be fun.” She flipped through settings until the scroll was in photo-mode.

“I’m not looking for an endless stream of one-night stands, Yang. I don’t want my avatar to be…” She struggled trying to find a kinder word than ‘slutty’.

The blonde brawler gave Pyrrha a weak smile, “Alright…I’ll just take a normal photo. I can’t let you go on with such a milk toast avatar.”

The spartan tried to find some way of getting out of this. She had still never learned how to change her avatar. Nora had offered to teach her, but she felt like the HNTR community had come to expect to see one thing. It didn’t make sense to change it to something else. If Yang did change it, she wasn’t sure how to change it back, and while it would just be a quick ask to get Nora to help her, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to answer the questions that came with that help.

It also seemed like it wouldn’t be nice to decide not to take Yang up on this offer. She was just trying to be a nice friend, and offer some help. It also wouldn’t be such a bad idea to show off her looks on this community. She had been thinking that she might be able to move on from Jaune here. Maybe letting everyone see her in her best light was a good idea.

“Okay.” Pyrrha finally relented, “A **NORMAL** photo.”

Yang’s smile went wide, “That’s the spirit!”

The blonde boxer hopped off the bench, moving behind the seated Pyrrha. She held the scroll up and away, the semi-transparent surface displaying an image of Pyrrha carefully hiding her worries behind a thin smile. As Pyrrha looked up at the image she found herself quickly relaxing as she examined her own features. She had to admit that Yang did have a talent for setting up a good composition, and the lighting did a good job of highlighting Pyrrha’s features. Soon her thin smile had turned more genuine, and she was looking at a sweet, calm image that she would be proud to have as her avatar.

Just before snapping the picture, Yang slipped one of her fingers around the laces of Pyrrha’s battle corset, pulling back on it quickly. The corset pulled tight, forcing Pyrrha’s breast up and together as they struggled to find space to exist. The redhead’s lips parted in a slight gasp, her face twisting in a slight discomfort. The image that the scroll had captured may not have had the startling lack of shame of Yang’s avatar, but it was not the pure and innocent image Pyrrha had accepted a moment ago. In the next moment the app had returned to the HNTR main page, and Pyrrha’s spear and shield had been replaced by this new picture.

The redheaded huntress gasped and scrambled for the scroll, “No!”

The Beacon clock tower took that moment to let out a low gong, signalling that it was time to move on to class. Pyrrha felt her hear threaten to beat out of her chest, as Yang thrust the scroll back into her hands. Pyrrha looked desperately at the page, hoping for some clear way to undo the damage that Yang had just done. She was struck with the sudden and undeniable realization that she didn’t have time. She’d have to leave it like this until she could talk with Nora about it that night.

The spartan cursed at her own stupidity as she slammed her scroll closed and leapt to her feet. This was just the sort of prank that someone like Yang would pull for a cheap laugh. Had it been on anyone else, they probably would have been able to undo the damage with a few taps before class. Yang probably thought that Pyrrha would have it back to the way it was in moments, no harm no foul. Instead the green-eyed champion was just going to have to hope that no one noticed the change until she had a chance to get it fixed.

oOoOo

Jaune sighed softly as he walked down the hall of Beacon academy. His recent experiments with ASMR videos had been a fun use of his time, but the bitterness in the comments was starting to take a toll on his confidence. Maybe this whole HNTR thing wasn’t meant for him after all. That wasn’t so bad though. It was probably all just a phase that would be over in a few weeks, and everyone would be back to talking face to face like normal people.

Just before lunch he had been in combat training, and Cardin had decided to try to go a little rougher than normal. Jaune’s shoulder still ached from a particularly hard hit, but the pain was less than it could have been thanks to his training with Pyrrha. He made a mental note to remember to thank her for taking the time to try and shape him into something more than just a lump of clay.

He had noticed that lately Pyrrha had been a lot happier than normal. The other reason he had been thinking about putting an end to his video series was because he really didn’t have any idea why that was the case. He wished he had made the time to talk to his team more, to find out what they were up to and share in the victories and defeats of each day. Based on his recent experience he would have found more positivity talking to them than he had in his entire series of videos about ‘quiet noises’.

The blonde knight boy wondered if perhaps he should take some time and invite all of his teammates out for some team bonding. They’d probably make some joke that it was just nice to see him again after weeks of him hiding away in his room. He’d smile weakly and not really try to defend himself, and then they’d all forget and share some stories about what had been going on. That seemed just about par for the course.

A low gong of the Beacon clock-tower echoed through the halls, signalling that it was time to be moving to his next class. Jaune smiled weakly. He hadn’t really been looking forward to the class about the genealogy of Grim. Honestly, if it would die if he stabbed it enough that was all of the information he thought he’d need. He rolled his aching shoulder one last time and got ready for the sprint to his next class.

That was the moment that he had heard the excited voices of Cardin and his gang from inside an empty classroom, “Whoah! Check out that profile photo!”

Jaune stopped and squished himself against the wall as he eavesdropped on the conversation in the empty room. It wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing at this moment, but he was sure that Cardin and his gang were up to no good. He might be a little bit late to class, but if he could figure out what kind of trouble Cardin and his crew were up to, maybe he could stop it before it got out of hand.

“Jeeze, look at that O-face.” Cardin laughed, “She looks like she’s about to pop right out of her top for the camera.”

The other members of team CRDL took turns laughing and making lewd comments, “I never knew she was so thirsty. Kinda puts a lot of things in a different perspective.”

“What’s her user name? If we’re gonna see pictures like that I’ll take the time to give it a follow.” They continued to make their quick little jokes.

“Spartan.” Cardin chuckled, “I’d give her 300, if you know what I mean.”

Jaune felt his cheeks blush at the lewd conversation and pushed off of the wall. He didn’t really need to listen to this anymore to have an idea of where it was going. Someone had posted something a little scandalous on HNTR, and they were being their standard dickish selves about it. If that was all there was to it, there probably wasn’t much point in sticking around for more information. Jaune wasn’t interested in waiting around for his group of bullies to start a circle-jerk over some cam-girl.

Putting what he had heard in the empty classroom had ended up being a little bit more difficult than Jaune had initially anticipated. It seemed weird that Cardin and his group would be so excited over a picture on HNTR. Maybe it boiled down to the fact that they knew who it was in the picture, but even that seemed a little bit odd, given their very excited reactions.

It couldn’t be anything too raunchy. HNTR’s terms and services had clear rules against anything that could be considered ‘too adult’ when it came to avatars. There were plenty of people who pushed right up against the razor’s edge, like Yang, but no one was going to post something as sordid as that, right? People at Beacon weren’t like that, right?

The knight slipped into the lecture hall, taking a seat near the back where he could hear the class but wasn’t likely to be called upon. People were still filing into the class, so he hadn’t ended up being late because of his minor detour. The handful of students who had taken their seats were fooling around with their scrolls, probably passing messages back and forth with HNTR. Jaune fumbled in his own pocket, pulling out his own scroll.

Maybe he should take al look at the _exciting_ avatar that this ‘Spartan’ had chosen. It wasn’t because he wanted to look at that sort of thing or anything like that. He needed to take a look so that he could report it if it broke the rules. This was all for the betterment of society. Rule-breakers needed to be punished, and if no one else was going to make a case over it, it was his duty.

As he punched the name ‘Spartan’ into the search field, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen it before. That didn’t make sense though. He had taken Ren’s warnings to heart and only stayed in the ‘safe’ sections of HNTR. How would he have ever encountered a cam-girl? He narrowed his eyes, hitting the return button to find the answer.

The profile loaded quickly, the avatar displayed clearly in the top corner. Jaune felt his breath catch in his throat, a soft whisper dying on his lips “Pyrrha?”

oOoOo

“You’ve got to help me fix it.” Pyrrha whined as she held her scroll out to Nora.

The combat training session had been rough on Pyrrha. She had spent most of her matches, struggling to keep her focus on the match while the dire consequences of her avatar change were still fresh in her mind. What would happen if those guys that Yang spent her nights with saw? What if they thought she was inviting that kind of attention? She hadn’t been on HNTR long enough for the possibility that a dumb prank might ruin her new social life.

Nora pouted as she looked at her friend, “This wouldn’t have happened if you had let me take you picture when I offered.”

“I know, I know!” The spartan girl squeezed the closed scroll tight in her fist, “If I could go back and let you teach me how to do this before it became a problem, you know I would.” She squirmed as she walked, trying not to think about whatever she’d see when she went back into HNTR, “You don’t want people to see me like that, right?”

Nora let out a long defeated sigh and held out her hand, “You are lucky to have a friend as good as me.”

Pyrrha hurriedly placed her scroll in Nora’s hands, watching over her shoulder as the berserker slid it open. The HNTR app opened, and the words ‘1 new message’ flashed across the screen. Nora took the moment to enjoy Pyrrha’s pain a little by pressing the button to display the message, and quickly scan its contents.

“Who’s PumpkinPete?” Nora asked, a smile in her voice as she finished the message that was clearly an invitation for a date.

Pyrrha blinked for a moment, “He’s just some guy.” Her own green eyes scanned the message and she quickly started struggling, trying to reclaim her scroll, “Don’t read that!”

“Alright, calm down.” Nora chuckled softly as she closed the message and brought her thumb to the image that Pyrrha wanted so desperately to change, “You know, I might not agree with her methods, but you have to admit it got results.”

Pyrrha pouted as she watched the movements of Nora’s fingers. If anything like this happened again, the spartan wanted to be able to fix it herself. She memorized the steps to brining up the camera and then watched as Nora slipped out of her grasp and took a few hurried steps forward before spinning around. The last step she had seen pretty clearly when Yang had done it, take the picture and things just happened, so she wasn’t too worried about learning that.

Nora gave her a wide smile as she held up the scroll, “The sunset makes you look so pretty.”

The scroll was too far away for Pyrrha to get a clear idea of what the image that had flashed on its surface really looked like. She jogged forward to catch up to Nora, catching her scroll when the berserker threw it back to her. She juggled it in her hands for a moment, desperate not to drop it and stared down at the image that now served as her avatar.

The way that the warm orange and pink lights of the setting sun danced in the clouds behind the clock-tower was beautiful. The soft light made her features stand out against the cold stone of Beacon behind her. The photo seemed even better than the one she had thought that Yang had been going to take during their lunch break. Pyrrha really wasn’t sure how to thank Nora enough, not only for saving her from the shame of the earlier picture, but for gifting her something better than she could have imagined.

Nora gave the redhead a sly smile, “So, what’re you gonna say to PumpkinPete?”

Pyrrha felt her cheeks burn with a hot blush, “I was hoping you forgot about that.”

“Not a chance.” Nora snapped back without a moment’s hesitation, “So spill. You planning on going on this date?”

The redhead chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about everything that could go wrong. She had talked to PumpkinPete before, so she knew he wasn’t just one of Yang’s strangers looking for a quick in and out. He had always been a sweet and helpful guy, answering any question that she had in a quick and polite fashion. By all measures he had been a great guy. His avatar was the mascot of some sugary cereal, but given that her avatar had just been a spear and shield logo until today, that didn’t mean anything.

“I don’t know.” She struggled, trying to find some reason not to accept the offer. There had to be a reason, right? Something that would stop her from chasing after this bit of happiness.

The more she thought about it, the more she didn’t have any reason to say no. What was she waiting for? Jaune was never going to see her as more than the badass warrior who could beat him up. It didn’t make sense to wait for him to decide he had taken enough rejection from the ice-cold heiress. She couldn’t waste her life waiting for him to realize that she was the one who had feeling for him. Maybe this date could turn out to be the first of many. Maybe this was her chance at the healthy relationship that she wanted so badly.

Nora gave a sharp smirk, having seen enough of their team’s laundry to have noticed that one of their rank knew a thing or two about sugary cereals, “You should go for it, Pyrrha. You were hoping to find something more than just friendship right? Why not take the leap?”

Pyrrha felt a nervous smile pull at the corner of her lips and opened up the messenger function of HNTR. She tapped out a quick response, sending it off. Her green eyes looked up at the berserker who had helped her through all of the steps of this journey, “I guess I’m going on a date.”


	4. Prepare Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora and Ren help to prepare a nervous Pyrrha for her date with PumpkinPete. Will they take things too far?

An odd energy floated through the common room of the team JNPR dorm. It was like a rolling storm of excitement and pent up euphoric energy had settled in on the team. Pyrrha felt her stomach twist as the spirals of excitement and anxiety clashed against each other for dominance of her heart. This was her big chance to have that real relationship that she wanted, but when it came right down to it, she had no idea how to get there.

Sure Pyrrha had watched her fair share of romantic comedies, where the girl got the guy and everything worked out. She read a couple of romantic stories, even going as far as to peek into the pages of ‘Ninjas of Love’. She knew better than anyone that she was a girl as much as she was the hardened warrior. Still, she felt like she was woefully unprepared for the concept of a date. How was she supposed to have a good first date when she didn’t even know what a good first date looked like?

“Stop worrying.” Nora said as she came out of their room with a small collection of dresses draped over her shoulder.

The spartan winced as she realized that her emotions were so obvious on her features, “I don’t know how to do this, Nora.”

Nora held up a black, backless dress, looking from it over to the redheaded huntress who was shivering like a scared kitten on the couch, “You’ve talked to this guy before, right?” Pyrrha nodded, fumbling her fingers together in her lap as she looked down, “So just do more of that.”

Pyrrha shook her head quickly, “I’m not sure I can.” She reached forward for her scroll, “Maybe I can still cancel.”

“Don’t you dare!’ Nora snapped as she held up a green dress that was made of a shiny shivering material, “You deserve a nice and sweet guy, and with my help you’re gonna get him.”

The redheaded spartan shifted uncomfortably on the couch, still very unsure if this was the right thing to do. It had been so easy when she had sent that message back, saying that she’d go out on that date. In the heat of the moment she hadn’t thought about all of the ways that this could go horribly wrong. What if PumpkinPete turned out to be some sort of creep? What if he was only interested in her because of that racy image that Yang had posted? What if they didn’t have any chemistry when they got together in the real world?

Pyrrha looked over to Ren, who was seated in a recliner, idly flipping through his own scroll, “Don’t look at me. If Nora says it, she does it.”

Nora gave Ren a wink and finger guns, “I’m so lucky to have a boyfriend who understands me.”

This was all spiralling out of control way too fast. Pyrrha chewed on her bottom lip as she lamented that Jaune had apparently looked himself away in his room again tonight. He would have been the voice of reason to counter Nora and all of this date prep craziness. He was always overly cautious to a fault, and while that tendency could be frustrating, it was exactly what Pyrrha needed to save her from this situation.

Surely all of the talking that they had been doing about the plans for the evening had seeped into Jaune’s room. He had to know that she was planning on going on a date with some guy she had met through HNTR. Why hadn’t he come out to congratulate her on this stroke of good news? Was he sitting in the dark and moping in some fit of jealousy because she was moving on? Did her going on a date not even register to him as a thing?

Nora held up a short red dress with thin spaghetti straps, “What do you think about this one?”

Pyrrha blushed as she considered how high up her thighs that dress would end, “Seems a little…” She winced slightly as she looked at Nora, “Is there a nice way of saying ‘short’?”

“Exciting.” Nora offered as she looked up and down the dress.

“Alluring.” Ren spoke up without looking up from his scroll.

“Forward.” Pyrrha spoke up, to keep them from trying to work in positive adjectives, “It seems a little forward.”

“Good.” Nora said as she threw the dress to Pyrrha, “Forward is good. It’ll keep his attention on you, right where it belongs.”

“It’s too much skin!” Pyrrha whined as she looked at the small dress.

Nora nodded and then picked up a box that she had brought in earlier, “We can fix that with some stockings.”

Pyrrha felt like she was the doll in some sort of giant game of dress-up. She could voice complaints, but there was no way that Nora was going to listen to any of them.With her battle garb being the way it was, she wasn’t really a stranger to showing off a little skin. Deep down she considered that she might not dislike the idea of holding the attention of the men around her. She had wanted people to look at her like she was a girl, so maybe the choices Nora was making were right.

Thinking about catching someone’s eye and seeing the dress she’d be doing it in were proving to be two different things. It was like thinking about robbing a bank versus actually doing it. How was she supposed to go outside wearing this? Everyone was going to be looking at her? Maybe she had thought that was what she wanted, but was it really? She had been the centre of attention plenty of times before, but this wasn’t like that at all. She wasn’t fighting in a tournament, or beating down Grimm. The mundanity of going on a date somehow seemed more terrifying.

“I can’t do this, Nora.” Pyrrha felt her body shudder as she looked down at the dress.

Nora smiled and walked over to Pyrrha, patting her on the top of her head, “You know how in training you sometimes push us to do things that we don’t think we can do?”

Pyrrha winced and grit her teeth, feeling deep in her heart that the two things weren’t comparable. Sure she had pushed her teammates to try harder, and to reach for greatness. That had been for their benefit, to help them grow. The more she thought about this the more she felt deep in her soul that things weren’t going to work out. Even if it was just her brain trying to sabotage her so that she fell back into her comfortable lonely routine, at least her routine had been safe and predictable.

The spartan looked over to Ren who was still absorbed in his scroll, “Weren’t you going to help?” Pyrrha was grasping for anything that might help distract Nora from preparing her for this date.

Ren’s eyes slowly turned up from the scroll that he had been hiding behind for most of the night. The withering look that he cast towards Pyrrha suggested that he had also not been given a choice when it came to his participation in this prep-session. It was even more clear that he didn’t appreciate Pyrrha drawing his girlfriend’s attention to the fact that he had been using his scroll to check out of the activity. He slid his scroll closed and took a long breath before letting a calm smile spread across his lips.

“The red one looks good, Nora. It goes well with her hair.” His voice almost had a sing-song quality to it as he spoke like he had been totally engaged the whole time, “Keep it simple with the reds. If you want an accent piece or two, use green to highlight her eyes.” He gave Pyrrha a smug smile and then reopened his scroll, casting his eyes back down to it.

Pyrrha balked, staring at Ren with her mouth slightly agape, “How do you even know all of this?”

Ren didn’t even look up from his scroll this time, “My cupcakes wouldn’t get as much attention on HNTR if I didn’t know a thing or two about colour theory.”

There wasn’t really any way to debate against it. Even with Nora’s ravenous appetite making sure that no one outside of JNPR ever tasted any of it, everyone at Beacon knew about Ren’s baked goods. He had a talent not only in making food delicious, but also at making food _look_ delicious. Pyrrha felt a new wave of concern wash over her as she wondered just how ‘delicious’ she was going to end up looking for this date.

All of this seemed like it was going way too far. Sure first dates were supposed to be important, but wasn’t she supposed to go out more normal than this? Sure the restaurant that PumpkinPete had picked out had been a bit on the fancier side, but this felt like it was too much. She felt like her friends were trying to convince this guy to propose to her on the first date or something. She didn’t even know his real name! She had just been calling him ‘Pete’!

“This feels like it’s going too far. Shouldn’t we dial back a bit or something?” Pyrrha pleaded with her friends.

Nora sighed softly and took a seat on the arm of the couch, next to Pyrrha, “If we left it up to you, you’d show up in jeans and a t-shirt.” Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something, but Nora cut her off before she could, “Not that there is anything _wrong_ with that if you’re just looking to make a new _friend_.”

Pyrrha pouted, “I would have worn a skirt, not jeans.”

“Not the point.” The berserker poked her friend in the shoulder, “Take a moment. Close your eyes and imagine the kind of guy that you wish you were dating. Picture the kind of guy you’d want to be more than friends with. Really think about someone who makes your heart skip a beat.”

The spartan had closed her eyes, and done her best to follow through with the rest of the instructions. It was hard to imagine what she really wanted. It wasn’t so much physical qualities that she looked for. She wanted someone kind, someone noble, someone who would act for others without taking time to think of themselves. It was hard to picture how someone who would stand by their word would look different than anyone else. How could you tell at a glance if someone had a good heart?

After a moment’s pause, Nora spoke up again, “With that image in your head, imagine that you are going out on your first date with that person. Are you wearing a skirt and a t-shirt with the logo from one of your indie bands on it?”

Pyrrha, scowled as she opened her eyes again. There wasn’t really any fighting that argument. She did want to put the extra effort in for someone like that. Based on all of her interactions with him, this PumpkinPete was sweet, kind, honourable, and possessed all of the other non-tangible qualities she was looking for. The picture that had come into her head might have had messy blonde hair and smiling blue eyes, but looks didn’t matter!

“Listen, Pyrrha.” Nora’s voice cut through her thoughts, snapping her back to reality, “You wouldn’t go into a fight with a grim in your school clothes. We’re just getting you into the proper outfit for the battle known as a date.”

The redheaded spartan gave out a soft sigh as she stood up. A strong tone of resignation was clear in her voice as she held her hand out to the berserker, “Give me the dress so I can go try it on.”

oOoOo

A soft light cut through the darkness of Jaune’s room, casting eerie shadows on the walls. The blonde knight was seated on his bed, staring down at the scroll that he was cradling in his palms. Normally he would have spent time like this working on his series of videos. Most of HNTR didn’t seem to understand it, but at least the Faunus community appreciated his quiet videos.

On this particular occasion, his attention was focused on something other than editing videos that most people wouldn’t enjoy. His eyes were focused on the image that his teammate had been using as her HNTR avatar. She had changed it later in the day, but when he had seen it something had compelled him to take the extra step to save it. He wasn’t sure what that said about him. Clearly she hadn’t meant to post it. Was he a bad person for keeping a copy of it?

Chewing on his bottom lip, the knight boy wondered what he should say to Pyrrha about the image. Was he supposedto remind her that anyone who used HNTR could see anything that she posted there? Should he tell her what he had heard Cardin and his gang saying about the image, and about her? Maybe it would be better if he didn’t say anything, and just pretended that he didn’t know anything about it.

Jaune closed the image window and considered consulting his friends on HNTR. He felt like pretty much everyone would have a better idea on how to approach this kind of situation than he did. He knew that Velvet would be good at dealing with a situation like this with the care and delicacy that it deserved. She had said that she wouldn’t help him win over Weiss, but that was different. This was his teammate and friend that he’d be asking for help with.

His fingers curled back into his palm as he pulled his hand away from the scroll. The image had only been up there for a little bit. Surely not everyone had seen it. What would he do if Velvet hadn’t seen it when it was up? There was no way that he could bring himself to describe it, and sending it to people felt…dirty. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how troublesome it would be to get advice.

While scratching the back of his head, the young knight let a long sigh slip past his lips. If just figuring out _how_ to talk to his teammate about this was feeling this awkward, he couldn’t imagine how it would feel to actually be doing it. The best strategy was probably to segue into it. Maybe he’d find a chance to bring it up at dinner or something.

Jaune slipped his scroll closed, letting the room fall back into darkness. He could still remember the way that Cardin and his team had been talking. Knowing what he knew now, it made him angry. He was angry at Cardin and his teammates. They had always been bullies and jerks to _him_ , but it he could take it. He couldn’t help but get angry when they were saying things like that about his friend.

More than he was angry with Cardin, Jaune was angry with himself. He had heard them talking, and instead of stepping up and saying something, he had slunk away like a coward. It shouldn’t have mattered who they were talking about, he should have stepped up. He should have opened that door, and told them that the way they were acting wasn’t right. He tightened his grip around his closed scroll. Could he really say that he was any better than they were?

There was no debating that team CRDL had been acting sleazy in that classroom. Jaune could have gone in there and said, or done something to stop them though. He didn’t have to surrender to his curiosity and look up the profile that he had heard them talking about. No one had been standing over his shoulder and forcing him to save the image so that he’d have it for later. He had justified all of those choices in his head when he had been making them, but his justifications seemed like hollow excuses now.

He’d just have to hope that when he talked to her about it, Pyrrha wouldn’t see it that way.

oOoOo

Pyrrha stared into her mirror, watching as her reflection stared back at her. The quest to prepare her for her upcoming date had brought the group of huntsmen into the female portion of the JNPR dorm. It did not come as a surprise that Ren was familiar with the room in which Pyrrha and Nora slept. The spartan felt confident that _sleeping_ had little to do with why he knew his way around the girls-only room.

Had she been the team leader of JNPR, Pyrrha might have felt compelled to question it, or to say something to the two young lovers. If she thought to question it when she was still railing against all of this prep-work, she might have used it to escape. Now it just entered her head as a mild curiosity, that she pushed away just as quickly, finding it better not to dwell on such things.

Ren was absent-mindedly twirling an eyeshadow brush between his fingers. His eyes were also focused on the reflection, darting back and forth as they looked for anything that he might have missed. He had an intense focus etched over his features, and if Pyrrha was being honest, it made her feel a little bit uncomfortable. She felt like she was being measured, each part being weighed. This was probably how livestock felt when they were in front of the butcher.

If she was being honest, the work that Ren had done was beautiful. The blush that he had applied to her cheek made her features seem warmer and softer. A Thin line of green eyeshadow was visible over her eye, coming out to a wingtip point. Her lips had been painted with a soft neutral pink for a clean and natural look.

When Nora had started talking about makeup, Pyrrha had bristled at the idea. She had been concerned that this waswhere everything was going to go too far. Pyrrha had never worried too much about makeup before. It seemed silly to paint her face with pigments that were only going to sting at her eyes when they came off with the sweat of her training. She didn’t understand why she’d hide her face behind makeup if she was trying to be herself.

Ren had used everything sparingly. Once he had finished, Pyrrha understood that it was less about hiding things, and more about highlighting what she already had. She had been so worried that she’d end up looking like some kind of night-worker. Instead, her cheeks were warm and filled with life, her eyes glowed with a strange intensity, and her lips looked soft and kissable. It was much more tame and understated than what she had feared.

The spartan brought her hand up slowly. Her trembling fingers pushed her bangs back, and dancing over the smooth surface of her tiara. She swallowed hard, knowing that her friends had gone above and beyond the call of duty to make her upcoming date a success. She could hardly remember the last time that she had looked anywhere close to this nice. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so critical of her friends choices after all.

“You’re gonna knock’m dead, Pyrrha.” Nora’s smile beamed at Pyrrha’s reflection in the mirror.

The redhead blushed and looked down and away as she mumbled, “Are you sure he’ll like it?”

The berserker girl let out a soft sigh and lightly punched Pyrrha on the shoulder, “As long as he has a pulse.”

Pyrrha tried very hard not to smile at her friends sharp response. She failed. It was hard not to smile. She already knew how much better than normal she looked. Hearing Nora confirm it stroked her pride and made her puff out her chest a little bit. The way she looked now, people would have to see her as a woman before thinking of her as a warrior. Her friends had given her the gift that she had been longing for.

The redhead pushed herself to her feet slowly. She straightened out her dress, pulling down on the bottom a little in an effort to cover more and smooth out any wrinkles. Her fingers danced quickly over the tops of the stockings held up by garters, making sure they were straight. Her hand came up to her chest, pressing the brass bangle adored with a few shimmering green gemstones against her chest.

She took a few long breaths to calm her jittery nerves, “I guess I’d better get going.”

Nora smirked and gave the spartan a hard pat on the back, “Knock ‘em dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, make sure to tell me if you find any errors. I've been working on this chapter on and off this past week so I may have repeated some things, or made little continuity mistakes without noticing it.
> 
> Is everyone excited for the big date chapter that is coming up next? What will Pyrrha think when she meets up with her prince charming at the date? Will the fireworks between them be so intense that it burns down the nice Italian restaurant? Will PumpkinPete turn out to be a blind guy, rendering this whole chapter about preparing for the date pointless? Tune in when we return! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel


	5. Find Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha arrives at the restaurant for her date. Will this heart-pumping first date be everything that she was hoping for?

The restaurant was lit by the warm glow of candles inside small glass orbs on each table. The air was filled with the enticing scent of fresh herbs and spices. A soft music floated through the air giving the entire restaurant a warm and inviting atmosphere. A few patrons sat at table, talking and enjoying their meals. It was exactly the sort of place that someone might pick to be the location of their first date.

Pyrrha still felt a tightly bound knot of nervousness deep in the pit of her stomach. She knew that everything should be fine. Her friends had made her look nice, she was coming out here to meet a guy that had always acted nice. Everything was set up for this to be a roaring success. For some reason, the anxiety that was attached to stepping out of one’s comfort zone was roiling deep in her soul.

The alarm bells that the spartan relied on to protect her from danger were screaming at her. Opening herself up in this way may not have been physically dangerous, but the emotional danger still felt just as real. Her mind raced over all of the ways that this could go horribly wrong, finding few escapes from these nightmare scenarios that she was imagining. What if she didn’t have any chemistry with PumpkinPete? What if they didn’t have anything in common? What if this tangled ball of nervous energy made her throw up on his shoes?

She took in a long breath, trying to focus on the feeling of polished wood chair that she was sitting in. It wouldn’t do to think about all of the ways that this could go wrong. Things were going to work out somehow. She couldn’t give in to despair after all of the work she had put into psyching herself up for this. Failure wasn’t something she could let herself imagine after Ren and Nora had worked so hard on making her look good. Yes. Things were going to work out. They had to work out.

A soft blush coloured the redhead’s cheeks as she thought back to when she had left the dorm. Nora had jokingly reminded her to use protection if things got especially amorous. At the time, Pyrrha had been too flustered to come up with a witty retort. It was so ridiculous of a notion, that she had stomped down the hall in a huff. Now that she was sitting at the table, bathed in the romantic atmosphere of the restaurant, the advice was having a different effect on her mind.

What if things did go that far? It wasn’t unheard of. From what she understood Yang made a habit of it. Was she prepared for the possibility that he might invite her somewhere more private after their meal? She wondered if it was possible that things might go so well that she wanted to do the inviting. Where would she take him? Back to her dorm? Knowing Nora, she was still waiting eagerly for her to return with a report on the date. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

Pyrrha shook her head violently, shocked at herself for having such scandalous thoughts. She hadn’t even seen her partner face to face yet, and her mind had already made a dive for the gutter. She cursed her hormones for leading her down such a dangerous path. She found herself regretting the dress that Nora had picked for its lack of pockets. If she had been able to bring her scroll with her, or really anything other than he wallet, at least she’d have something to distract herself with.

She closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the idea of the date itself. Nora’s suggestion about how a date was just a different kind of battle had been a ploy to get her into the dress, but surely they weren’t a total lie. She ran through possible conversations, trying to figure out the best responses. If this was anything like a battle, it wouldn’t hurt to do a little bit of extra preparation, or spend some time working out a strategy.

She thought of how she’d avoid the potential big conversational landmines. Her mind worked on plans on how to turn the conversation towards things like hobbies. She worked on what kind of questions might tell her if they had common interests, and what the best way might be to ask them. She smiled softly, opening her green eyes to look about the room for anything in their surroundings that might be useful. That was how she’d deal with this anxiety. When PumpkinPete got here, she’d have already figured out how to navigate the perfect date.

“Excuse me, Miss.” She was shaken from her thoughts by one of the waiters. He wore a white button-up shirt and clean black slacks under a black waist apron. In his hands he was delicately cradling a long, thin bottle, “Would you care for a glass of wine?”

The huntress chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, considering the wine. A glass might be just what she needed to calm her addled nerves while she waited for ‘Pete’ to arrive. It had been common for her to read passages in history books about rooms full of master strategists who had imbibed a little bit. Maybe something to help clear away the thoughts that were torturing her, and loosen her up a little bit wasn’t such a bad idea.

On the other hand she remembered the first time she had gone out training after getting a little buzzed with Nora. The alcohol had dulled her senses and left her feeling a little bit sluggish. Now, she wasn’t going into an actual battle where she’d need to be quick on her feet, but could she really afford to drop her guard? Grim could attack at any moment and she might be called on to defend civilians. It might make it easier to get through the social situations that were bearing down on her, but was it worth the risk?

The spartan swallowed hard, and looked up to the waitress, making her first decision of the date.

oOoOo

The common room of JNPR’s dorm was illuminated by the flashing images on a large screen. Nora and Ren had decided that after all of their work to prepare Pyrrha for her date they had earned a little bit of rest and relaxation. Nora had decided that it should come in the form of them cuddling up on the couch and watching some movies. The justification had been that they might catch Pyrrha and Jaune as they made their way back into the dorm, doing their walk of shame.

For the purpose of being able to wait out the end of Pyrrha’s date, Nora had switched into the oversized black shirt that she used for sleepwear. If the date went horribly, she wanted to make sure that she was comfortable while she was comforting her friends. If the date went amazingly and resulted in a night of sweaty screaming passion, Nora wanted to be ready for napping on the couch while she waited. Either way, she would be prepared for her teammates when they finally made her way back to the dorm.

Ren had been less interested in catching their friends in a vulnerable position. He had given in to the berserker’s demands for the opportunity to spend time with his girlfriend enjoying cinema. He felt like with all of the drama that had been going on lately he hadn’t been able to spend as much time with her as he would have liked. Also, everyone liked movies.

The film they had picked was some sort of cheesy b-movie horror film. It was the sort of thing that you might expect a group of comedians to be running a commentary over. The antagonist was some actor running around in a cheap rubber monster mask, and a jumpsuit made out of fake fur. The movie seemed to focus on having the teens find a quiet place to make out, and then the ‘monster’ jumping out while they were vulnerable.

Nora had chosen the film, hoping for something a little bit more scary to get her blood pumping. It would have felt nice to jolt in her seat and then have Ren wrap his arms around her to remind her that she was safe. It would have been equally nice to have Ren jolt beside her and be able to take shots at him for getting scared. Instead the film had ended up being a goofy.

If the monster had been able to deliver on the promise of being scary that would have been a movie. Unfortunately it looked like the guy in the suit had a bit of trouble seeing out of it, so he shambled around like some sort of classic zombie. Anyone with legs could probably outrun this thing. The teens, who according to the story were supposed to be huntsmen in training, should have had no problem beating whatever this monster was to a pulp.

The scenes where the young huntsmen found themselves in their dark and secluded areas weren’t much better. They’d grope at each other and pull at clothes, but all of it seemed like the awkward motions of two people who didn’t actually know each other. Nora wondered if she would have found the movie more interesting if those scenes were allowed to continue to their logical end. Instead, just as things would start to get steamy, the monster would pop up and flail around, and everyone would rush off, desperately pulling up zippers and fastening belts.

Nora had sunk into the couch, finding nothing but disappointment in her choice of entertainment for the evening. Her ice-blue eyes looked beside her to Ren, who for his part was trying to engage with the film. His arms were crossed over his chest, while his eyes followed the action. Every once in a while he would mutter the word ‘wrong’ when something particularly ridiculous occurred on screen. The berserker wasn’t sure if he was just naturally focused on the movie, or if he had just been making the extra effort because it had been her choice. She decided it was sweet regardless of the answer.

The berserker felt her lips curl into a a mischievous smile as she realized how absorbed in the film Ren had become. She shifted forward from her seat on the couch and whispered softly into Ren’s ear, “You’ll protect me from the big, scary master, right?” Her hot breath tickled at the edge of his ear as the sultry whisper left her lips.

Ren jolted slightly as his focus on the film was broken, “What?" He turned his head, looking over to his girlfriend.

Nora’s eyes glowed with a predatory energy as she pushed out her bottom lip in a soft pout, “You wouldn’t let that monster get me, would you?” She shifted to be a little closer to him, leaning against him a little. She placed her palm against his chest and did her best attempt at puppy dog eyes, “You’re so big and strong. You’d protect me, right?”

A warm blush had crept into Ren’s cheeks as his brain struggled to come to grips with out clingy his girlfriend had just become, “Uh…Nora, what are you-?“

The berserker slowly began to draw her fingers down Ren’s chest, “I wouldn’t want the monster to get me…” Her bottom lip trembled with faux fear as her other hand came up to her chest as if to protect her heart. She balled her fingers into a tight fist, crushing the ‘boop’ of her shirt. The tightening of the fabric exposed the valley of her cleavage through the neck of the shirt, “How would I ever defend myself against it?”

Ren’s eyes flashed down quickly, a nervous action as he struggled to avoid making eye-contact with the freshly exposed region, “You’re definitely stronger than that monster, Nora.” His mouth felt dry, and he felt like his voice might crack.

She smirked and moved her hand quickly, the hand that had been clutching had her chest making a downward journey, “But without any of my armour,” She pulled up on the hem of her shirt, flashing him a view of her creamy thighs, and a glimpse at her lacy pink underwear, “I’d be helpless if the monster hit me. I wouldn’t be able to stop it form doing whatever it wanted to me.”

The emerald hunter quickly shifted his eyes back to the movie, swallowing the lump in his throat. He was trying very hard not to imagine himself taking the roll of the monster in the scenario that Nora was proposing. While she was brutally strong, he knew that she wouldn’t put up a fight if he went to push her down onto the couch. She’d probably squeal with joy if he gave into her teasing and started pulling at her night-clothes, which he now realized were much more skimpy than he had thought.

He brought his mind back to logical thought, pushing away the haze of lust, “C’mon, Nora. What if someone sees?”

Nora almost purred as she dragged her fingertips down his chest towards the growing bulge at the front of his pants, “You’re right…the monster could be watching right now.” It was clear that she wasn’t giving up on the little bit of role-play just yet.

Ren shuddered as Nora’s fingertips found him through the front of his pants, “That’s-“ He bit back against the soft moan that threatened to slip out, “I mean, what if someone comes.”

Nora took that moment to finish shifting into her boyfriend’s lap, her expression warped into a mask of sensual hunger, “You’d better.” Her hot growl came out as she latched onto the double entendre of Ren’s warning.

The thin fingers of the berserker pulled at buttons and ties. She was filled with a desperate need to claim the burning flesh that was hidden from her by the laters of Ren’s clothes. Ren’s hands came up, taking a firm grip at Nora’s hips to keep her from falling off of the couch. Nora pulled open Ren’s shirt, exposing his chiseled chest to her hungry and lustful gaze.

Their sensual entanglement came to a screeching halt, punctuated by the harsh sound of someone clearing their throat, “You realize we all sit on that couch, right?”

The blonde knight was leaning against a wall, his arms lazily crossed over his chest. His eyes were focused on the flashing images of the terrible movie that had been about to be nothing more than a background to the real show on the couch. A smug and knowing smile had spread across the boy’s lips, letting all who saw it know that he was very aware of what had been about to happen. It may have been in poor taste to interrupt the two lovers, but it probably would have been worse to stand by and watch it happen in silence.

Nora shot back from what she had been doing, her hands still gripping the sides of Ren’s open shirt, “Jaune!? What the fuck are you even still doing here!?”

Jaune slowly turned his eyes towards the couple on the couch, his eyebrows twisting into a quizzical expression, “I live here with you guys. I know I’ve been keeping busy lately, but you guys seriously couldn’t have forgotten that I live her too, right?”

“That’s not-!” Nora brought her hands back, clutching at her face for a moment before yelling out from behind her hands, “You’re supposed to be on a hot date with Pyrrha right now! She left like an hour ago!” She brought her hand up pointing and accusatory finger at the grey bunny that adorned the front of his short-sleeved hoodie, “Pumpkin Pete!”

The blonde knight only looked more confused as Nora reprimanded him. He turned his attention to the boy who’s lap she had straddled, “I think your girlfriend is broken. I know the individual words that she’s saying, but together…”

Ren winced slightly at the fact that he hadn’t been able to melt away into the couch to avoid this embarrassing situation, “Pyrrha met a guy through HNTR and was going on a date with him tonight. We…kind of thought it was you.” He grimaced as he revealed their mistake.

“Seriously?” Jaune pushed himself off of the wall, narrowing his eyes slightly, “Doesn’t she know that’s dangerous? There are people on HNTR who pretend to be people they aren’t and stuff.” He frowned as he walked over to the couch, “Just last week someone tried to lure Velvet out to attack her on the train. If Coco hadn’t been there who knows what might have happened.”

Who knew what some weirdo might try to do. That recent avatar situation had probably pulled all kinds of weirdos with impure intent out of the woodwork. What if someone was trying to lure Pyrrha out so they could attack her? Sure she was probably the strongest person he had met at Beacon, but someone might be using this to trap her or launch an ambush. This stranger might try to beat her up, or worse.

“We need to go find her!” Jaune quickly stepped across the room quickly picked up his sheathed sword and sliding it into his belt.

Ren winced slightly at their leader’s intense worry, “I know you’re concerned, Jaune, but remember, this is Pyrrha we’re talking about.” He smiled weakly trying with gentle pushes to persuade Nora to get off of his lap, “If anyone is capable of taking care of themselves, it’s gotta be Pyrrha.”

“She might not even be in danger. This could just be some nice dude that she’s meeting up with.” Nora let out a soft whine and slipped off of her partner’s lap, flopping into the couch. She knew that if things were going well with Pyrrha and this ‘Pete’, them storming in was definitely going to ruin it. This may not have been how she had imagined things when Pyrrha had been invited on a date, but that was no reason to charge in guns blazing.

Jaune didn’t appear to be paying as much attention to their words as he was to their actions. They were clearly not going to help him search, but that was fine, “Right. You guys stay here in case she comes back.” He adjusted his sword making sure he wouldn’t lose it while he ran, “I’ll go look for her.” He looked up quickly at Nora and Ren, “Where was she going?”

oOoOo

The lights of the subway station glowed with a harsh, unnatural light. The concrete walls gave off the cold and oppressive feeling of a place that didn’t have to pretend to be welcoming. The laminate tiles that had once tried to make the floor a mosaic of colour had lost the fight to traffic, bleached and tarnished by time and grime. The air was filled with the scent of mechanical grease and the lingering traces of people who were no longer there.

Pyrrha sat on a bench, staring down at the red leather of her high-heeled boots. The redheaded woman, dressed to the nines in her bright red dress, seemed out of place in the dingy station. She was the lone citizen of a world that, in the day, was usually full of the chittering sounds of life as people waited for the train to take them where they were going. It’s empty lifelessness felt like a cruel reflection of how the girl felt inside.

Waiting seemed to be the theme for her night. She had waited for PumpkinPete at the restaurant. When she had given up there, she had waited on the street in the hopes of finding someone who could take her back quickly. After wandering down a few streets and giving up on that, the redheaded woman had found herself here, waiting for the lumbering steel snake of the subway to arrive and deliver her to the warmth of her bed, the only thing that seemed to be waiting for her.

The rumbling of the train reached her before the light that peered through the darkness of the tunnel. The defeated Spartan lifted her head, looking forward at the advertisement blank wall that sat across the gap that would soon be filled by a subway train. The dimly lit poster pictured a happy couple embracing each other. It was probably for some movie or book.

Pyrrha let out a laugh, a bitter sound as she waited for the train. How had she thought that could be her? No one was ever going to look at her with the eyes that those two people on that ad were looking at each other. Maybe some people could find that kind of thing, but she was just a soldier. She didn’t even feel like that was accurate. No, it was more like she was just a weapon. This swirl of emotions inside of her was just dulling her edge and she had been foolish to chase it.

A burst of stale air burst from the tunnel as the roaring train burst out of the dark tunnel. The advertisement disappeared behind the polished surface of the public transit vehicle. The air rushing between the gaps of the cars made a low pulsing noise as they passed by. A muted screech came from the brakes as they fought the momentum of beast made of steel and glass. When it finally came to a stop, it let out a low tone, and the doors slid open with the mechanical hiss of pistons at work.

The redheaded woman boarded the train, scanning the interior quickly to find herself alone inside of the steel compartment. Her green eyes scanned the seats for a moment before she decided that she’d rather stand. She had already spent too much time sitting tonight. With the terrible weight of her emotional defeat, she wasn’t sure that she’d be able to get back up again if she let herself sit.

She took up a position on the opposite side of the train from the door she had used to enter. Her fingers gripped tightly around the naked polished steel of the arm-rail to maintain her balance as the train once again lurched into motion. The dull whir of the engine and the muted clack of the wheels rolling down the track filled the air, their hypnotic rhythm aiding the spartan in letting her mind wander.

Pyrrha’s eyes went glassy as she stared out at something beyond the cold concrete wall that sped past the window in front of her. She tried to track back over the thoughts that had brought her to where she now was. She had just wanted to be approachable, to not be this unclimbable mountain. All she had wanted was to find someone the way that Nora and Ren had found each other. She had wanted to climb into the warmth and safety of someone’s arms. Was it so bad that she wanted to have a shoulder to cry on that didn’t belong to Nora?

That just wasn’t for her. It was a harsh reality that she was going to have to come to grips with. Happy endings weren’t a thing that the best huntsmen got to reach out and grasp. Most of the stories of huntsmen who became heroes ended when they died stopping something horrible. They’d tell everyone else to run away while they stood up against an insurmountable foe. Even in their final moments, they ended up alone.

She just had to accept that it was her fate. There was a reason that she was too grand to approach. Charging off to die valiantly in some final battle would be easier if she didn’t have to think about who she might be leaving behind, or what she might be leaving unsaid. Maybe being alone made it feel like her heart was in a vice now, but she’d be happy for it when the time came. She had just been acting like a silly girl.

As the train came to a lurching halt at another stop, Pyrrha felt the hot sting of fresh tears in her eyes. It didn’t feel like she had been asking for a whole lot. All she had wanted was to just be a ‘silly girl’ in just this one way. It didn’t have to even be a forever thing. Just one night would have been enough. She just wanted to know what it felt like to have someone, to be seen, to be wanted. She wanted to know what it would feel like to make herself vulnerable and have someone accept that vulnerability.

Pyrrha closed her eyes, wondering what it would take to make people see her as a woman. For all of her faults, Yang had found a way to do it. It was terrifying, and Pyrrha thought it was degrading, but maybe one day if she was desperate enough she’d be willing to give something like that a shot. Maybe that was the price she would have to pay if she wanted eyes to be focused on her.

Unknown to Pyrrha at that moment was the fact that she was no longer alone on the train. The train doors had opened with their mechanical hiss, and when they had closed the car no longer had a lone passenger. Had she not been so engulfed in her own thoughts, the redhead woman might have noticed the change in her surroundings. If she had looked around, she may have seen that her wish of having eyes that were focused only on her wasn’t nearly as far fetched as she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun DUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!
> 
> I'm not sure if a subway in Vale is a stretch or not. I know that in episode 1 they arrive at beacon in an airship, but that doesn't seem like it would be efficient public transportation, so there has to be something else right?
> 
> Also, man I was so excited for the reveal that PumpkinPete was not Jaune. I knew I was shooting myself in the foot last chapter with that Jaune bit but I couldn't find a way around it. I thought I was being cagy with the whole 'Jaune will talk to Pyrrha at dinner' thing, but you guys saw through me.
> 
> I'm excited to see what you guys think of what happens next. How will Pyrrha adjust from getting stood up to a heart-pounding subway ride home? Will Jaune make it in time to save her dignity? Seriously, who is PumpkinPete!?! Tune in next time! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!


	6. Save Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha has a heart-pounding encounter on the subway-ride home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My story layout for the end of the last chapter literally says the words "Scary Cliffhanger". I hope I delivered on that promise.
> 
> Edit 2018-10-11: Changed the title of this chapter. I've been thinking about how this title was better since the day after I posted this chapter.

The train rocked back and forth, shifting its weight as it restarted it’s movement along the tracks. Pyrrha gripped tightly to the hand-rail as the sudden change of inertia caused her to teeter slightly in place. The events of the night had taken a hard toll on her, and the soft noises and gentle movements worked together, to distract the parts of her mind that fought to keep her awake. It didn’t feel having her expectations dashed should take more out of her than her training did. It would be so easy to just close her eyes and let sleep claim her senses.

The wall that Pyrrha had been watching outside of her window slid away, vanishing behind the train as it exited the tunnel. She winced slightly at the brilliant white light off of the broken moon that hung low in the sky. It seemed a cruel joke that the night sky could be so brilliant and beautiful after everything that had happened. It almost felt like it was taunting her with how clear it was, comparing itself to the storm clouds that were brewing deep in her heart.

Her eyes blinked closed. Just a moment to rest wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like she was going to lean forward against the door before her and fall asleep. She’d just rest her eyes and think about that warm bed back in the dorm. It would be so nice to get back and put all of the terribleness of this day behind her. One uneventful subway ride and then she could go back to the safety of her routine from before any of things HNTR stuff started.

Strong arms wrapped around the redhead from behind, causing her to suddenly go tense. Her eyes snapped open and her mind raced as felt a strong masculine chest press against her back. This couldn’t be happening right now. Of all of the things that could happen, and all of the times that they could occur, _this_ and _now_ seemed like an impossible combination.

She remembered hearing stories about how Coco had punched a lesson into some handsy men that had gone after Velvet on a train, but that had just been a story. Gropers on trains weren’t a real thing, right? Even if they were, who could possibly see _her_ as a potential target for that kind of attention? She had just spent an evening sitting alone at a restaurant specifically because men didn’t see her like that.

Pyrrha closed her eyes tightly, trying carefully to think out her next step. It was late at night, and she hadn’t noticed anyone else in the train-car until this moment. If she called out for help, who was likely to come to her aid? Given her luck, this handsy guy had gotten onto the train with a bunch of his buddies who were waiting for her to sound vulnerable. It wouldn’t be hard for her to take out one guy, but if there were more…in her mentally exhausted state she’d likely just make them angry.

Goosebumps rose on the huntress’s skin. What was she supposed to do here? She tried to think of any escape routes. On a speeding subway train that was going to be hard. If she had been carrying her scroll she could have laid the smackdown on this guy and called for help. Her lack of pockets betrayed her again. If she screamed he might run away, unless a scream was what he was after, at which point it would get worse. How did she deal with this situation before things got totally out of control?

Maybe things could get a little bit more out of control than they were right now. Pyrrha pouted at the fact that the hug from behind had kind of stopped there. She had read stories, weren’t gropers on trains supposed to do more…groping? So far this was just a weird hug from a stranger who was panting against the back of her neck. Why wasn’t he doing more? She had womanly curves. Weren’t gropers supposed to go after that sort of thing? Her mind flashed with the dangerous thought that maybe she was so intimidating that even gropers didn’t dare do more than this.

Pyrrha moved quickly, her fingers curling around the wrists of her attacker. It’d be easy to throw him off, and she could give him a stern talk about how none of this had been appropriate commuter behaviour. Rolling him over her shoulder and slamming him into the floor would be a snap. It might be overkill though. This might just be some happy drunk who was only holding on to her to keep from falling over. She didn’t want to cripple someone over a hug. She wasn’t a monster.

The arms seemed to tighten around her a bit when she gently tried to pull them away. This was probably a little bit more than just some drunk trying to keep his balance. If that was the case, why was this still just a hug? Maybe this was his first time or something. What should she do with that information? Did she try to help him do it right? It sounded completely stupid in her head, but her fellow passenger was the only man she had met who had the courage to try something so brazen.

She gently nudged his hands up a little bit. She wasn’t sure what she was doing anymore. Part of her was just happy to finally have someone paying attention to her like she was a woman. Maybe it wasn’t how she had planned it, but it was something. If this was all a misunderstanding, he’d probably jump away and apologize for brushing against her. If he meant to do this, then maybe she could write a grazing touch off as a reward for bravery. If he tried for more she wouldn’t have to feel so bad about breaking his bones.

A sharp gasp slipped past her lips, as her gentle nudging pushed a strong masculine hand up to press against her breast. The curious fingers squeezed around her, gently kneading at her flesh. Okay, this was definitely more than a brush. She’d give him a few more moments before laying him out. She wasn’t sure anymore if these few moments were for her fellow passenger or for her.

Her mind wandered over the various ways that all of this dating stuff could have gone perfectly. Would she have ended up going home with ‘Pete’? What would Nora have said if she had tried to sneak him into their dorm? How would she have dealt with it if her partner had tried to engage her in this kind of public display of affection? Would she have melted back into his big strong arms and let out a sensual moan of his name?

“Jaune…” Pyrrha was barely aware that the whispered moan had escaped her lips, and the fact that it was of a name had escaped her completely.

The hot breath against the back of her neck had calmed down but responded with a soft moan of its own, “Pyrrha.”

Pyrrha’s body jolted at the sound of a familiar voice breathing her name. She pulled forward out of the man’s grip, and looked back at the tall blonde behind her, “Jaune!?!”

Jaune took half a step back, bringing his hands up in the universal sign of surrender and then freezing as solid as a statue. He held his breath in his lungs, his blue eyes watching the slightly hunched over huntress who had brought her hands up to defend where his hands had been. He felt a fear like he was staring down a dangerous Grimm. If he stayed so still that she thought he had died, maybe, just maybe, this whole thing would blow over and there wouldn’t be any fallout.

“What…What are you even doing here?” She had brought her hands up, fixing the straps of her dress before hugging her hands against her chest.

“I can explain.” He said the words quickly, barely leaving spaces between them, “I didn’t mean to do that, you see, I just got on the train, and then I saw you, and so I came over, and then one thing happened and then-“

“Stop.” Pyrrha felt a bitter anger welling up in her chest.

For a moment she thought that she was angry with Jaune, but no, that wasn’t it. She was angry with herself. How had she been so stupid? Obviously no one was going to get on a train and go after _her_. That was crazy. Even Jaune was shivering with fear at the thought of what she might do to him. She had gotten her hopes up at the thought that someone finally saw her as something other than the champion. How could she have been so stupid as to think that a pretty dress and some makeup could change how people saw her?

The spartan let out a long sigh and leaned against the glass doors behind her, “Why are you even here, Jaune?”

“Well-“ Jaune brought up his hands making a few animated movements and staring at his fingers, “I saw you from the platform, so I got onto the train, and then you were over by the window so I thought-“

“No.” Pyrrha gave him an exasperated look and shook her head slowly, “I mean why aren’t you back at Beacon?”

His goofiness was normally one of the adorable traits that Pyrrha enjoyed, but she was too tired for it now. If he had gone out to get something, he didn’t look to be carrying it. It was possible that he had taken his sword to someone to get tuned and that was why it was on his belt now. She’d have to remind him what she had said about taking the time to care for his weapons himself.

A soft blush had crept into Jaune’s cheeks as he looked down at the ground. It was really seeming like his teammates had been right and this whole thing had just been him being overprotective and dumb. Obviously Pyrrha could take care of herself. She had probably never been in danger in the first place. Now that he thought about it, she could have had a wonderful time on a date with a great guy, and he was out here ruining it. This had all been so stupid.

“I-“ He started, his mouth going dry as he waited for her to chew him out, “I came to save you.”

Pyrrha felt a tightness grip at her heart as she heard his answer. Her words came out in a breathless question, barely louder than a whisper, “What?”

Jaune nodded. She was right. It was probably better to start at the beginning. He opened his mouth, about to speak, and then realized that he wasn’t actually sure where the beginning was. A lot of things had happened over the last few days. It was hard to pin down what the real first incident that had brought him here was. Maybe it would be better to start with the most relevant information for now and build up his explanation from there.

“I was worried about you.” He smiled weakly, “Some of these guys on HNTR are…” He struggled, trying to find the right word for a moment before giving up on a short answer, “After you posted that picture I thought you might attract the wrong crowd.”

Pyrrha felt her cheeks burn at the mention of the picture. It had been a hard journey trying to forget about it. Now that it had come up again, she wasn’t sure how Jaune had seen it. It had only been up for a little while, and as far as she knew she hadn’t interacted with Jaune on HNTR. Had he been secretly following her, trying to watch out for her or something? Maybe he had just heard about it.

She bit her bottom lip for a moment, looking at the ground, “You saw that?”

Jaune moved into an awkward scramble, pulling out his scroll and flipping it open, “I saved it.” He held the scroll open to the picture, and was immediately filled with regret. Why had he said that? He had just admitted to it so openly. She was going to think that he was some sort of creepy stalker now. He cursed at his body for moving before his brain could stop it. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_.

The spartan had gone quiet, staring at the image of herself preserved on Jaune’s scroll. It was more pixelated than the original, having lost something in the conversion, but it was still there. He had found the image of her and looked at it, that was understandable, any friend would have probably done that much. After seeing it, he had taken the extra step of saving it. She hadn’t even known that was a thing you could do. He had taken the extra step to preserve an embarrassing image of her.

Her lips moved slowly, “Why?”

“I mean…” Jaune stuttered, as he tried to find a way to escape the question that even he didn’t have an answer for. Why had he saved it? Because she was his teammate and friend? No, that wasn’t right, “I was just…” If he had seen an image like that of Nora he wouldn’t have saved it. So why had he done it when it had been of Pyrrha? The way she was looking at him was begging for an answer. How could he say that he didn’t know?

A soft smile tugged at the corner of Pyrrha’s lips, “Is it the same reason you decided to grope me?” He was too cute with how he was stumbling over his words, she couldn’t help but give him a little push.

“Hey! I was just hugging you because I was happy you were safe.” He frowned and turned his head to the side, “You were the one that made me…do that other stuff.”

Pyrrha slowly brought her hand up, gently biting at the end of her thumb, “Did I?” She smiled weakly, her green eyes following his every movement, “You didn’t want to do that at all?”

Jaune’s cheeks burned a bright crimson as he avoided eye contact, hoping that she couldn’t see him, “So how was your date anyway?” He tried desperately to change the subject.

“Answer the question, Jaune.” She slowly took a step towards him, leaving the side of the train-car behind her, “Did you want to do more than just hug me?” Her heart was racing as she watched every movement he made.

Jaune took a half step back, not sure what would happen to him if the scarlet warrior closed the distance, “Pyrrha, I don’t think I should-“

“Jaune.” She snapped. Her wrist flew out at lightning speed, her fingers curling into the collar of his hoodie in a tight fist, “Did you, or did you not want to manhandle me on this train?”

The knight screwed his eyes shut and let out a startled sound and winced, “No.” He felt her grip loosen a little bit, but couldn’t stop himself from talking, “Not on the train.”

When he had said ‘no’, Pyrrha had felt the familiar feeling of emotional defeat rear its ugly head again. Of course he hadn’t wanted to. Her imagination had gotten the better of her. Jaune had just been trying to be a good friend. Then he elaborated on his words, and her heart skipped a beat. What did he mean ‘not on the train’?

She nervously chewed on her bottom lip as she looked at the boy who was still too afraid to open his eyes, “Keep talking.”

“I’ve been thinking about it since the picture.” Jaune wanted desperately to stop his lips from moving. Fear of failing to follow Pyrrha’s instructions proved stronger than the fear of how she’d respond to his honesty, “Probably longer than that actually.” He winced slightly, “I knew you’d never-“

He was silenced by a hard pull on his collar followed up by the feeling of soft lips pressed against his own. His eyes fluttered open as he tried to figure out what was happening here. Was Pyrrha kissing him? That was crazy. She was so far out of his league the thought that something like this might happen hadn’t ever occurred to him. He was so shocked by the sudden change in his worldview that he forgot that the proper response to this sort of situation would be to kiss back.

Pyrrha slowly pulled back, her lips parting from his. This was all too bold. She couldn’t believe she was doing any of this. What if Jaune didn’t like her when she was acting like this? Maybe she had gone too far. Her half-lidded green eyes looked at him as she tried not to let the worries of her heart show on her face. She felt shivers of excitement run up her spine as she realized that she had finally managed to steal a kiss from the goofus boy that she had been longing to confess to.

“Continue.” Her breath tickled over his neck as she whispered the command.

“I-“ Jaune croaked slightly, still struggling to figure out which way was up. He couldn’t even remember what his name was, let alone what he had been saying. He felt a gentle tug on his collar again, reminding him that Pyrrha was only so patient, “The dorm, I guess? Nora and Ren always do that sort of thing in the dorm.”

The spartan felt her lips curl into a sly smile as she seized the opportunity to make another attack, “Jaune-“ She let out a faux gasp, “-are you inviting me back to your place?”

Jaune was totally lost at this point. Hadn’t Pyrrha been out on a date with someone? Wasn’t he going to be mad when he found out about this? Maybe things hadn’t worked out between the two of them. If that was the case, was he some sort of rebound action? He wasn’t sure how he should feel about that idea. He felt like his brain would overheat trying to find the right answer to all of this madness.

“I mean-“ He started, still struggling for words, “I wouldn’t-“

Pyrrha smirked softly, “I accept your invitation.”

Jaune stared forward, completely dumbfounded, “What just happened?”

The spartan let out a soft laugh as she let go of the front of Jaune’s shirt, instead sliding her thin feminine fingers between his strong masculine ones, “Would you believe that you successfully convinced a woman to come home with you?”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. They both lived in the same dorm. He knew what the words she was saying would normally mean, but there had to be a context problem. She was so far out of his league. She couldn’t mean what he thought she meant. Even if she was saying it like that, she had to be joking right? He had convinced her to come home with him? He had just stumbled over his words and looked like a giant doofus. Struggling to put words together when faced with a pretty girl had never worked for him before.

“How?” He decided that was the safest question.

Pyrrha smiled softly and moved to stand beside Jaune, her fingers still tangled up with his, “The heart is a curious thing.” She leaned against him, letting her head rest against his shoulder, “Who can say why we want what we want.”

The knight blushed and looked over to the girl who still had a tight grip on his hand. The world had gone mad. That was all there was to it. The world had gone mad and somehow this beautiful gift had been thrown at him. He couldn’t believe that he had wasted so much energy wondering how this could have happened instead of focusing on enjoying the fact that it was happening. He tightened his own grip around Pyrrha’s hand, holding her tight. Maybe if he held her close enough all of this would keep being real. Maybe if he believed hard enough she wouldn’t realize how much better than him she could do.

“I don’t want to let you go.” He muttered the words more to himself than to her.

Pyrrha let out a delighted sigh, bringing her free hand up to place her palm against his chest, “You’d better not. You haven’t finished saving me until we get back to our dorm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha. Remember when you all thought this story was going to take that long dive into the darkest possible ending? That was fun.
> 
> I hope we're all still excited for what might happen next. Will Pyrrha and Jaune make it back to their dorm safely? What sort of things do they plan to do when they get there? That "Explicit" tag wasn't just a cruel tease to get people to read the story, right? Are we ever going to find out who PumpkinPete is!?! Tune in next time! Same Bat-Time, same bat-channel!


	7. Love Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha and Jaune make their way back to the dorm. Can they avoid the dangers lurking in the shadows to make it back to their dorm and finish their quest for peace?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art thou prepared for the heart-pounding final chapter?

The courtyard of Beacon Academy was quiet and still in the cool night air. With the air calm, and the pumps for the fountains turned off for the night, the Academy seemed caught in an ethereal serenity. The calm, unbroken surface of the water in the fountains seemed like a mirror, reflecting the beauty of the night sky and broken moon back up into the ether. The soft glow of the lamps along the path marked the way home for the weary souls of any students who might find themselves lost and in need of more than the pale light of the moon to get them home.

Pyrrha’s heels clicked against the stone path with every step she took. Her grip was still tight around the fingers of the blonde knight boy, who followed her from half a step behind. It felt like some strange fairytale, the noble knight and his maiden in red making their way down the path with the eerie cold darkness of the world just a few steps to either side. In typical fairytales the heroic knight would have been the one in the lead. Pyrrha did not have the time or inclination to be typical in this moment.

She kept moving forward, a singular purpose in her mind. Jaune’s indecisive, and selfless nature meant that if she gave him a chance he’d ask the questions that she couldn’t let herself consider. After coming so far, and saying so much, she couldn’t let herself stop to think about what she was going to do. If she stopped here when the summit was so close, she might never find the strength to climb again.

Yes, it was true that in the fairytale romance, the knight would be in the lead. He’d valiantly face down the shadows as he led the princess back to her castle. When she tired, the knight would lift her in his arms and carry her the rest of the way. Maybe that was how it typically went, but Pyrrha didn’t mind the idea of a story where the princess took the lead. It felt natural that she’d be leading Jaune back home. Even if it didn’t, at this point, she doubted that words would be enough to remind Jaune that he was supposed to be a knight.

Of course, no fairytale would be complete without the wretched creatures that took to the darkness. Without the tall furry beasts, a girl might just find a cabin in the woods and eat some porridge. Remove the jealous witch, and no one was cursed with endless sleep. A journey to grandmother’s house is hardly worth mentioning without a devious trickster with designs on making a meal out of a heroine. The shadows just beyond the path were a welcome hiding place for those harbouring villainous intent within their cold black hearts.

Cardin grit his teeth as he looked out from the shadows of the building. He could feel the nervous energy of his teammates behind him as the dawning realization that things were not going according to plan became more clear. Claiming their revenge through an ambush seemed less enticing with her not being alone. They had expected to see a lonely target, trudging along with the air of someone who had gotten their hopes up only to have them dashed. The energy and focus that Pyrrha was showing now was a harsh contrast to what their plan called for.

“She doesn’t _look_ like an easy target…” Russel whispered softly as he peeked around Cardin’s shoulder.

It was hard for any of their team to disagree with that assessment. Pyrrha was walking with the fierce energy of someone who would punch through a stone wall if it stood in her way. The fact that she wasn’t going to be carrying her weapons, had caused team CRDL to leave their own weapons at home. Their revenge plan had centred around the kind of damage that you didn’t need swords or clubs to cause. Now she looked like she had the confidence to take them on unarmed, and that in itself was scary.

The addition of Jaune Arc was also a hindrance to their plans. In training he might just be a good punching bag, but that really meant he could take a beating and keep standing. With those heroic ideals of his, if they tried to attack now, he’d probably fight them until he could no longer stand. Their plan for a quick jump and grab wasn’t exactly viable anymore, and while they had the numbers, none of them were currently outfitted for a fight.

Cardin flipped his scroll open and angrily mashed at the screen, sending out a message, ‘ _You said she’d be alone._ ’

There was a long pause before the screen displayed a new message, next to the image of the cartoon face of a grey rabbit, ‘ _She_ _was_ _alone in the subway station._ ’ A moment later another message came in, ‘ _Perhaps if you had followed my plan._ ’ The second message was punctuated with an icon of a frowning yellow face.

“What’s that Pumpkin guy saying?” Sky tried to peek over Cardin’s shoulder at the scroll.

Cardin’s fingers gripped into the ends of his scroll with an angry force, “He’s trying to say we didn’t do it right.” He punched in another angry message, ‘ _Maybe I should tell people about your messed up plan to attack Pyrrha?_ ’

Another long pause was punctuated by a new message from PumpkinPete, ‘ _You could certainly do that_ _Mr. Winchester_ _._ ’ Cardin felt his blood run cold at seeing his name displayed on the scroll. A new message came up quickly, ‘ _By then I’ll have moved to a new account, but I’m sure everyone will be interested in_ _your_ _involvement in all of this._ ’

Cardin slammed his scroll shut with an angry growl. His chest moved with the force of his short, seething breaths. They had been played by some master manipulator who was too afraid to get their own hands dirty. Sure people called Cardin a bully, but at least he was brave enough to do things himself.

“Screw it.” Cardin slid the scroll into his pocket and slapped his hands against his lap, “This is a bust boys. Lets go find some other entertainment.”

oOoOo

The monitor displaying the trashy horror movie continue to cast a flickering light over the common room of JNPR’s dorm. The young couple who had long since given up on watching the movie lay over the couch in a sweaty tangle of skin and half-discarded clothes. Nora, still draped over Ren, listened to the thunderous beat of Ren’s heart through his chest. Her ice-blue eyes watched the frantic movements of the film as she felt the slow rise and fall of Ren’s chest as he tried to catch his breath.

Ren went tense at the sound of the door to the common room open. His mind raced as he tried to think of ways to protect their dignity and hide themselves and the shame of what they had done. It seemed not to matter as the intruders appeared to be too focused to take notice of the couple on the couch, or even the terrible movie that was still playing out before them. He felt like maybe they could get away with it completely unnoticed as long as they were quiet.

“How was the date?” Nora spoke up from her spot on Ren’s chest, much to Ren’s dismay. She had identified two sets of footsteps coming into the room with her trained huntress senses, which meant that no matter how you cut it, Pyrrha had returned.

“Terrible.” Pyrrha responded with a curt one-word answer as she dragged her partner across the common room, “I’m going to our room to think about it.”

Nora felt her lips curl into a devilish smile, “Do you need me to come with you so we can talk about it?”

“Absolutely not.” Pyrrha reached for the handle of the door that would lead her to the ‘girls-only’ portion of the JNPR dorms, “In fact, you probably shouldn’t follow me at all. I’m pretty inconsolable tonight. I’m sure Jaune wouldn’t mind if you stayed in the boys’ section with Ren tonight.”

Nora chuckled softly, her eyes still focused entirely on the screen, “That true, Jaune?”

Jaune’s voice stuttered as he was pulled into the girls’ room, “I’m not sure what is happening right now.” Anything else that he might have wanted to say was cut off by the closing of the door.

Ren rolled his head back, looking over the arm of the couch to the now closed door. His breathing was still a little laboured from his earlier activities, but he spoke with a calm collected tone, “Do you think this’ll change our team dynamic?”

The berserker rolled her head up to follow Ren’s gaze to the closed door, “It’ll probably shake up the sleeping arrangements.” Her lips were still curled into a slightly mischievous smile as her fingertips danced over Ren’s skin, “Speaking of sleeping arrangements, why don’t you show me around your room?”

The black-haired hunter closed his eyes as he listened to the loaded request. Nora’s fingers sent jolts through his skin with every feather-light touch. He tried to clear his mind, focusing on calming his ragged breaths, trying to prepare himself for what Nora planned next, “I’m not sure I can move.”

Nora smirked and brought her lips up to Ren’s ear, “Don’t worry. I’ll do all the _hard_ work.”

oOoOo

The girls’ room in the JNPR dorm looked remarkably similar to the guys’. There were two beds, a communal dresser with a large mirror, and two dressers on either side. The top of the dresser in the girls’ side was a clutter of makeup that hadn’t been put away after the earlier work on getting Pyrrha ready. Beyond the makeup, the only evidence that this room belonged to girls was the largely pink colour palette that had spread over everything on what was clearly Nora’s side of the room.

Jaune, having grown up with sisters, was no stranger to rooms that had an excess of pink, or collections of makeup on the tops of dressers. Somehow it still felt odd to be in here, like he was breaking some sort of rule. Pyrrha had all but thrown him into the room while she went to close and lock the door behind them, so it wasn’t like he had really had any choice. Still, was he really supposed to be in a room that had the faint smell of perfumes and flowers.

The yellow knight looked back to the door, seeing Pyrrha bent over as she removed and discarded the uncomfortable high-heeled shoes. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched her straighten up and turn her focus to unhooking the long red stockings from her garter belt. Even though he knew why he had been dragged in her, part of him still felt like he shouldn’t be looking. His cheeks burned crimson and he looked to over to the dresser instead.

Pyrrha looked up to Jane, feeling her cheeks burn a little bit at the thought of how quickly she had been moving just now. She felt her heart beat a mile a second in her chest and brought one hand up in a subconscious attempt to slow it down, “Jaune? Are you okay?”

He shuddered at the sound of his name. His eyes moved over to her for a moment before quickly darting away, “Are you sure…” The last time he could remember being this nervous was when he had come to Beacon, but throwing up now would have very different consequences, “I mean…with _me_?”

Pyrrha let her arms fall, letting them hang from her shoulders. He was still talking about himself like that? After everything that had happened, he was still going to be like that? Her shoulders trembled for a moment and her fingers curled into fists. She stomped across the room and brought her hand up, placing her fist against his chest in a soft punch. Her green eyes stared at the floor as her shoulders trembled with nervous energy.

“No more of that.” She forced the words out in a dry whisper, “I’ll punch anyone who suggests my boyfriend isn’t good enough for me.” She threw her head up, her green eyes burning with a frightening determination, “That includes my boyfriend! Got that?”

Jaune felt all of his breath leave him. The ‘punch’ had really just been a tap, but the words that had followed had knocked the wind out of him like he had been hit by a truck. His mouth was dry as his brain fumbled for some way to respond to her earnest declaration. It took him an extra moment to process that she had bestowed him with the title of ‘boyfriend’. Any thoughts he had of questioning it were burned away by her intense gaze.

“Yes, ma’am.” His response was short, but it was all he could muster in his current state.

Pyrrha could feel the intense heat radiating off of her blushing cheeks, “Clothes.” Her eyes flashed downward to the floor, unable to meet her partner’s gaze as she made the rest of her request, “We’ll need to get out of our c-clothes…” When her eyes came up to meet his again, not bothering to hide the worry that lived behind them, “Unless….Unless you don’t w-want t-to.”

The yellow knight moved in a scramble, pulling the short sleeved hoodie up and over his head before throwing it to the side. The swirl of self-doubt that had lived with him for so long could not compete to his need to erase the fear and uncertainty behind Pyrrha’s beautiful green eyes. Even if it had been, the hormones that were running rampant through his system would have tipped the balance.

The spartan’s eyes traveled over Jaune’s freshly exposed chest. The baggy black sweater had done a good job of hiding the toned muscles that were the product of their training. She placed a shaky palm on his hard chest, feeling the heat of his body against her fingertips. She nervously chewed on her bottom lip as she felt the slow rise and fall of his pecs under her palm. She already knew the feel of that strong chest pressed against her from the train, but this somehow felt different.

Jaune felt an involuntary shudder run down his spine at the feel of Pyrrha’s fingers brushing delicately over his skin, “That tickles.”

His words had been enough to bring Pyrrha back into the moment. She brought her other hand up, pushing hard against his chest with both of her palms. The boy stumbled, trying to catch himself before tumbling back onto the soft surface of the bed. He had a slightly confused expression on his face as he struggled to prop himself up on his elbows. It looked like he was trying to find the right question to ask, but all of his words died before they could escape his lips.

Pyrrha brought her hands up behind her, finding the hidden zipper that she knew was somewhere between her shoulder blades. She had said that _they_ needed to shed their clothes. It wouldn’t do to have Jaune be the only one who was following those instructions. The fabric parted as she drew the zipper down her spine, suddenly feeling loose around her shoulders and chest. Her hands came up, cupping at the front of the dress, as if she were afraid the thin spaghetti straps might fail to protect her dignity. She felt the heat of the blush spread down her neck, no longer contained to her cheeks as she shrugged her shoulders out of the straps of her dress.

The thin red material slid free of her grip, sliding down her skin to collet at her feet. Her fingers still clutched at her chest in an attempt to hide the fact that she had caved to Nora’s demand that she not wear a bra. Apparently, visible bra straps was a date faux pas, and the spaghetti straps of the dress didn’t give her enough coverage to get away with anything. Her blush deepened as she remembered Jaune’s fumbling fingers on the train and how little had really been between his palm and her sensitive skin.

Jaune shifted on the edge of the bed, swallowing hard at the sudden exposure of so much skin. He felt like his brain had exploded as it tried to process what was happening before him. His blue eyes scanned over the curves of her body, stopping for a moment at the thin garter belt and the red lace of the undergarment that hid her lower parts from view. It seemed like all she had done was loosen her grip and she had gone from fully clothed to barely wearing a stitch.

His breath caught in his throat, the only word still in his mind slipping out in a soft whisper, “Beautiful…”

Pyrrha had thought that her blush had reached it’s peak, but somehow that one word had pushed it even further. She brought up one hand and pointed at his belt, “Pants.” The nerves gripped at her throat, keeping her from saying more than a single word at a time.

Jaune nodded and curled forward, looking down as he struggled to release himself from his belt. The buckle popped loose, letting the leather strap of the belt slide loose. The parts of his mind that would have questioned the instructions were pressed back by the swirl of hormones that knew why he was doing it. His heart beat hard against his ribs, a thundering sound in his ears as he popped the button on his jeans and ungracefully shimmied out of them. He kicked his shoes off to free his toned legs from the soft denim jeans.

Pyrrha had taken the opportunity while Jaune was distracted with his own clothes to escape her garter belt. She crouched to the floor, to hide herself as she slid the thin material of her panties down her legs, and then took a long breath to gather the last bit of courage that she would need. She quickly slipped across the room, sliding onto the edge of the other bed and crossing one leg over the other while she watched Jaune struggle with his clothes.

The knight looked over to the naked spartan once he had finally shed his jeans and felt his fingers twitch as he struggled to decide what he should do next. His partner was no longer hiding her chest, her arms instead down at either side to support her as she leaned back into the other bed. The nervous blush was still obvious, but his mind was instead focused on the slim smile that was on her lips. When she brought her hand up and beckoned him to her with a tantalizing curling of her finger he eagerly rose and crossed the room to her.

The sheets crumpled under Pyrrha as she lifted her legs and shifted herself back onto the bed. She reached out with her dextrous fingers, slipping them under the edge of the last cloth that stood between them as he climbed above her. She tugged his underwear down, freeing him from them with quick, but careful movement, and biting her lip as she looked down at the proud length of him.

Jaune looked down at her, his fingers curling into the pillows on either side of her head, “Isn’t this Nora’s bed?”

Pyrrha slowly nodded, her fingers tracing up the outsides of his thighs, and her eyes looking up to burn into his, “She won’t mind.”

The blonde boy nodded quickly, his mind running through some imaginary checklist. He gasped and looked around for a moment, “Oh, we need protection.”

Once again, Pyrrha nervously chewed on her bottom lip as her fingers grabbed tightly at his hips to keep him from scurrying away, “It’s fine-“ She started before blushing and looking away. She felt like if he moved away from her now one of them would come to their senses and they’d stop before they ever did anything, “I’m on the pill, and…” She swallowed and then looked back up to him, “It’s fine if its with you.”

Jaune looked at her, obvious concern still in his eyes, “Are you sure?”

Pyrrha let out a soft chuckle and nodded as she slid her feet up the mattress, bending her knees, “You’re being very sweet, Jaune-“ Her fingertips dug into his hips a little bit, “-but right now I need you to not ask those kinds of questions.” He slowly slid her palms up his back, letting them settle just behind his shoulders, “I know what I’m asking for.” She forced down all of her excitement and anxiety for just a moment to give him a serene smile, “Please stop asking if I’m sure.”

The young knight gave a quick nod. She was right. She had made her request perfectly clear. He slowly brought his hips down, hearing her let out a light hiss as the head of his length bumped against her lower lips. He looked up, about to ask if he was hurting her or should stop, but was was silenced by a flash of her green eyes. Right. He needed to stop asking questions.

He slowly shifted forward, being as careful as he could while pushing into her warm depths. Her face twisted with the mix of pleasure and discomfort that came from feeling his length slowly fill her depths. When he finally stopped moving she let out a breath that she hadn’t even been aware that she was holding, her chest heaving as she struggled to get more air. Sweat beaded on both of their foreheads, her emerald eyes staring up into his blue ones as they lingered in the sweet moment of their union.

After taking the moment to catch their breath, Jaune began to slowly pull his hips back. Even the friction of his leaving sent maddening jolts of pleasure through the two lovers. Pyrrha closed her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth to hold back her whimpering moans. The blonde knight felt his arms shudder as the pleasure attempted to steal his strength.

His second thrust pushed him a bit deeper into his quivering lover. A mix of pleasure and pain shot through her body. The sharp heat shot down her nerves like a wildfire tearing through a field of tinder, “Ahn!” Her lips parted in a weak cry, as she pushed her head back into the pillow behind her.

The pained sound had caused Jaune to freeze, all of his muscles going tense at once, “Did I hurt you?”

Pyrrha’s chest heaved as she caught her breath, “Just…didn’t think…it’d be this… _intense_ …” She flashed him a weak smile, hoping that would be enough to reassure him.

Jaune winced slightly as the meaning behind her words struck him in his heart. He remembered his sisters teasing him with awkward conversations about first times. There had been mentions of blood, and about how it could hurt for a while before it started to feel good. He had tried to ignore it at the time, but wished he had listened close enough to know what he should do about it now.

“You should have told me…” He looked down at her with his apologetic eyes, “Should I stop?”

She brought her arms down, slipping them up under his before wrapping them around his neck in a loose hug. Her chest still shook with the force of her long ragged breaths, but her eyes seemed to have taken on a slight sparkle as she looked at him. His gentle and caring nature was why she hadn’t mentioned it. She knew she was safe in his hands. She couldn’t let Jaune think about the possibility of hurting her.

“I’m fine.” Her eyes sparkled slightly as she looked up at him, catching her breath in this momentary pause, “I’ll tell you if I need you to stop.”

Jaune gave a short nod and then slowly began to move back again. Pyrrha closed her eyes, her body mourning the loss of him. The pain that she had been feeling had begun to fade, as the friction shot waves of pleasure through her body. She tried not to let out any more of her little noises, worried that they might make him stop. After finally getting this far she knew she couldn’t turn back.

When his hips rocked forward again, she couldn’t hold back the soft, surprised cry, “Nngh!” She closed her eyes tightly and started speaking before he could stop, “Keep going.” She slid her legs around his, bringing her feet together behind his knees in a weak attempt to keep him from escaping if he should try such a thing.

The knight followed the instructions that his princess had given him. After a few more experimental movements they had settled into a slow and gentle pace. Each movement of his long hardness between her tight folds caused the redhead to let out little mewls of pleasure. Each quivering pulse of her inner muscles around his sensitive shaft caused him to bite back agains his own soft moans.

Pyrrha’s body began moving, as if of its own accord. Her hips rocked slightly, pushing up just a little to meet the thrusts of her lover. Her toes curled, and her lips parted in low moans as her body moved and twisted, trying to find the best way to meet him. Every movement they made felt like the best kind of madness. She relished the sound of his moans, and the taste of their sweat in the air. Her arms tightened around his neck as she tried to pull him deeper into her in any way she could.

The pull on the back of his neck was the last straw for the strength in Jaune’s arms. His body slumped forward, his chest crushing against hers as he caught himself at the last moment. She writhed beneath him in a lustful desperation as he shifted his weight so that he could continue his thrusts. As he returned to his movements, she buried her face in the crook of his neck, moaning into his skin.

The spartan could feel a white hot pressure building deep at the bottom of her stomach. If the shots of pleasure at his movements were shocks, this felt like the energy in a storm cloud, building to a lightning bolt. Her hands grasped desperately at him, sweaty palms laying flat against his strong back, fingertips pressing tight with an almost bruising force.

Jaune groaned, his thrusts becoming a little unsteady as he felt his own end approaching, “Pyrrha…I’m…”

“Yes, Jaune!” She hugged him down, pressing her chest up against him with everything she had. She hooked her ankles together, just behind his hips a desperate need to keep him from slipping away grasping every part of her body, “Please!”

With a final deep thrust, Jaune reached his release. The feel of him thrusting as deeply into her as he could had also pushed the redhead over the edge. Muscles tightened, pulling the two young lovers so tightly together that they threatened to lose the boundaries between them. His hot seed erupted deep into her core, and the muscles of her sex squeezed and pulsed against him, milking him for every last drop. Their chorus of ravenous and desperate moans had singled their mutual ends.

Pyrrha still shook and shuddered, coming down from the maddening high as she loosened her grip on her blonde knight. She could feel the gift he had left her, churning deep inside, and felt another low moan slip past her lips. Her body felt weak, but that weakness was tempered by the fiery sense of satisfaction in her soul. It was the feeling she felt after defeating a worthy opponent, her body emptied of energy from the battle, filled instead with the warmth of hard-earned victory.

Her breath still came heavy as she held her partner close, the two of them a tangle of sweaty limbs on the crumpled and soiled pink bedsheets, “I love you, Jaune.” It was barely above a whisper.

She realized only after the words had left her lips that this had truly been the first time that she had confessed the feelings that had lived in her heart for so long. She winced slightly as she realized how out of order all of their relationship had been. Her heart raced, perhaps still coming down, perhaps in fear of what his response to her confession might be. Even after what they had just done, maybe ‘love’ wasn’t the word Jaune wanted to hear. What if she was just a placeholder until he could go back to chasing Weiss?

“I love you too, Pyrrha.” He spoke the words just as softly as she had before snuggling his face into the crook of her neck, “I have for a while now.”

She placed kisses against the side of his neck, working her way up to his ear, “This would have been way easier on me-“ She gently kissed at the edge of his ear, “-if you had said so earlier.”

The spartan let out a long sigh and closed her eyes, feeling her spinning storm of self-doubt break away into a calm joy. She was right where she had wanted to be, wrapped up in the strong embrace of her beloved knight. Finally she had heard the words that meant that someone had seen her as more than just a fighter. He saw her as she was, and had for some time. She could finally rest and enjoy the spoils of her quest. When he turned his head and her lips found his, she knew it was true. She could finally be the princess who lived happily ever after with her knight.

oOoOo

The shadows on the rooftop of a certain restaurant in Vale were pushed away by the soft blue glow of a scroll. Thin, gloved fingers tapped against the smooth surface of the device, closing a window of correspondence between a ‘MaceTime’ and one ‘PumpkinPete’. A soft, feminine sigh cut through the air, as the fingers worked to delete the HNTR app from the device completely, before sliding it closed.

“Did the plan work?” A dark-skinned girl with green hair spoke up, her legs dangling from above the roof access door.

“I’m afraid not.” The lithe woman with the scroll tossed it back to her dark-skinned companion who had first stolen it. Her amber eyes glowed with a dangerous fire as she sauntered over to the edge of the roof, looking to the silhouette of Beacon Academy standing in the distance. She crossed her slender arms under her chest, and closed her eyes deciding to at least enjoy the feel of the cool night air on her skin, “We’ll just have to find another way to deal with the invincible Pyrrha Nikos.”

A grey haired young man who sat with his back against the roof access let out a dejected sigh, “I don’t get why we have to be like this. Why didn’t we just beat them up ourselves? She doesn’t seem so ‘invincible’ to me.”

The slender woman with her long mane of ebony curls let out a low sigh, “Perhaps you could, but that victory would come at the cost of the element of surprise.” Her burning amber eyes never turned away from the castle-like structure of Beacon Academy, “If we chip away at the unity that serves as their foundation we can do more than just beat them…” She held up her hand to her side, her palm erupting in dancing embers to illuminate her cruel and sadistic smile, “If we tear them apart we can plunge them into despair.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my original story outline, this story ended in the previous chapter with a steamy scene on the subway. Once I started writing, I knew that ending didn't feel right, partly because that ending felt dirty for the end of a quest to find love, and partly because it would never answer the question; Who was PumpkinPete? I had considered paying it off with the obvious answer of Cardin, and briefly even entertained the idea that it might be Velvet (because the bunny girl using a bunny avatar was a nice symmetry), but I kept thinking about how Cinder made the most sense. She's an evil manipulator, who in the series got close to our heroes/heroines by pretending to be someone else.
> 
> Anyway, I hope I was able to deliver a satisfactory ending for everyone. I'm kind of sad that this story is over, but maybe, when the muse hits me again, I'll take a stab at whatever story might happen after this one.


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